n.
- A length of cloth worn by women over the head, shoulders, and often the face.
- A length of netting attached to a woman's hat or habit, worn for decoration or to protect the head and face.
- The part of a nun's headdress that frames the face and falls over the shoulders.
- The life or vows of a nun.
- A piece of light fabric hung to separate or conceal what is behind it; a curtain.
- Something that conceals, separates, or screens like a curtain: a veil of secrecy.
- Biology. A membranous covering or part, as that on the developing fruiting body of certain mushrooms; a velum.
v., veiled, veil·ing, veils. v.tr.
- To cover with or as if with a veil: Dense fog veiled the bridge.
- To conceal or disguise.
To wear a veil.
[Middle English, from Old North French, from Latin vēla, pl. of vēlum, a covering.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
