Forms: α. 3 ueile, 4–5 (7) veile, 5 veylle, 5–7 veyle; 4–5, 7 veyl, 6 veyll, veill (vell), 3–5, 7– veil. β. 4 uayle, 4–5 vayl, 5–7 vayle, 5–8 vaile, vail (5 Sc. waile, wail), 6 vayel(l)e, 8 vaill. γ. 5 Sc. wale, val, 4, 6–7 vale. [a. AF. and ONF. veile (veille) or veil (veyl), = OF. voile (voille) and voil:—L. vēla (neut. pl., taken as fem. sing.) and vēlum sail, curtain, veil. Cf. F. voile m. (veil) and f. (sail), = Prov. vel, It. and Sp. velo, Pg. veo. See also VELE.]
I. 1. A piece of linen or other material forming part of the distinctive head-dress of a nun, and worn so as to fall over the head and shoulders and down each side of the face.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 420. Ȝif ȝe muwen beon wimpel-leas, beoð bi warme keppen and þeruppon blake ueiles.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, x. (Matthew), 422. Þe apostil þane … þai madynnis all blyssit, & gefe þam waile & pall.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 33. He ordeynede þat a nonne … schulde nouȝt handle þe towayles of þe awter,… but sche schal bere a veile on hire heed.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., V. viii. 1563. He gaf biddynge to þaim ay Þat þar wail war na tyme lewide, Þan þai sulde wer it on þar hewide.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 200. Rympled liche a nunnys veylle.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B. 14. And many whyte nonnes with whyte vayles.
c. 1530. Crt. of Love, 1102. The nonnes, with vaile and wimple plight.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 228. Eftir her consecratione, haueng put on the Vale of her Virginitie … eftir the consuetude of the kirke.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 699. Heina … that put on the Vaile and religious habite of a Nunne.
1631. Townshend, Albion’s Triumph, 17. Religion, a woman in a short Surplusse of lawne full gathered about the neck, and vnder it a garment of watchet, with a short vale of siluer.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The Prelate before whom the Vows are made, blesses the Veil, and gives it to the Religious.
1753. Diary Blue Nuns, in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., VIII. 126. June the 19th peggy Johnson received the vail of postulante from Mother Abbess Agnes Howard.
1825. Scott, Talisman, iv. Six [of the females], who, from their black scapularies, and black veils over their white garments, appeared to be professed nuns of the order of Mount Carmel.
b. To take the veil, to become a nun; to enter a convent or nunnery. (See also quots. a. 1700–56.)
Originally in sense 34 of the verb TAKE, but in later use passing into sense 16 c.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 78. Thir maydens ware sent thaire uayles to take of that bisschope, of whaim I spake…. Thir maydens come bifore the autere, And toke thaire uayles.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxi. (Clement), 661. Throw hyme þe wale has tan a cusing of domycyane.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. iii. 264. Hir systyr þan dame Cristyane Off religion þe wail had tane.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 262 b. She had forsaken the worlde and taken the holy veyle and habyte of religion.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 395. Taking herself the Vale for opinion of holinesse.
a. 1700. Diary Blue Nuns, in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., VIII. 15. Margarite Pigin came from England to be a lay sister and took the litle vaile for religion.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitland Club), 259. It was the white vaill she was to take, that is, she was to enter her noviscet, for there is here no publick ceremony in takeing the black vaill, and last vows, for that is done within the convent, after a year’s wearing the white.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, iii. My father intended I should take the veil.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., lii. She never took the veil, but lived and died in severe seclusion, and in the practice of the Roman Catholic religion.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., iii. 103. Then it was appropriated to the Benedictines, and became a large and flourishing convent, the wife of Baldwin I. having taken the veil there.
c. The veil, the life of a nun.
1812. Cary, Dante, Parad., IV. 95. And thou mightst after of Piccarda learn That Constance held affection to the veil.
1827. Hood, Bianca’s Dream, 202. By twenty she had quite renounced the veil.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., xiv. One who,… according to the laws of the Church, had a right to make a choice between the world and the veil.
2. An article of attire consisting of a piece of thin cloth, silk or other light fabric, worn, especially by women, over the head or face either as a part of the ordinary head-dress, or in order to conceal or protect the face; now usually a piece of net or thin gauzy material tied to the hat and completely covering the face in order to protect it from the sun or wind. Also in fig. context (quot. 1648).
α, β. c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3616. Ðat folc on him [Moses] ne miȝte sen But a veil wore hem bi-twen.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 958. Þat oþer wyth a gorger was gered ouer þe swyre, Chymbled ouer hir blake chyn with mylk-quyte vayles.
14[?]. Siege Jerus. (E.E.T.S.), 15. Ȝit is þe visage in þe vail, as Veronyk hym broȝt.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, III. viii. 77. Our hedis befoir the altar we aray With valis brown, eftir the Troiane gise.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 255. His heare long downe to his shulders,… with a vaile of silke rowled abowte his head.
1564. Brief Exam., ****iiij b. A Byshop that suffered a wydowe to syt without a vayle in the Church among other wydowes.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 250. This same wise Tragædian bringeth in Agamemnon with a vaile before his eyes.
1648. Crashaw, Delights Muses, Poems (1904), 146. How at the sight did’st Thou draw back thine Eyes, Into thy modest veyle?
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 240/1. Gipsies … in the Countrey for a Vaile use some Durty Clout, having holes only for their Eyes.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 73. 125. She wore a white, unspotted Vail.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., cxviii. They were covered from head to foot with long black veils.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scotl. in 1772, 124. Over her face a veil, so transparent as not to conceal.
1823. F. Clissold, Ascent Mt. Blanc, 17. We all put on our veils, as a protection from the heat and light.
1838. Murray’s Handbk. N. Germ., 139. The women of the lower orders here [Antwerp] wear a veil, resembling the Spanish mantilla.
1859. W. Collins, Q. of Hearts (1875), 20. A bright laughing face, prettily framed round by a black veil, passed over the head, and tied under the chin.
1900. J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough (ed. 2), I. 313. Amongst the Touaregs … the veil is never put off, not even in eating or sleeping.
transf. 1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iv. 200. A Peacock … spreads round the rich pride of his pompous vail.
γ. 1580–3. Greene, Mamillia, Wks. (Grosart), II. 112. Where eyther the person or place should haue neede of a vale for Sunne burning.
1621. Quarles, Hadassa, Wks. (Grosart), II. 60/1. Haman went home and mourn’d, (His visage muffled in a mournfull vale).
† b. A loin-cloth. Obs.–1
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 187. A small vaile ouer their priuities.
c. Eccl. = Humeral veil, HUMERAL a. 2. (Cf. also OFFERTORY 5.)
1782. [see 4].
1905. Ch. Times, 3 Feb., 136. The Offertory veil is worn on the shoulders like a broad scarf, the pendant ends being gathered up in the hands for holding and covering the sacred vessels.
3. A piece of cloth or other material serving as a curtain or hanging: a. Jewish Antiq. The piece of precious cloth separating the sanctuary from the body of the Temple or the Tabernacle.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16762 + 85. Dede men risen out of þer graue, Þe temple vayl clef in twoo.
13[?]. Gosp. Nicod., 660. Þe son wex dim ful sone, Þe vail rate in þe kirk.
1382. Wyclif, Exod. xxvi. 33. The veyle forsothe be it sett yn bi cercles, with ynne the whiche thou shalt put the arke of testymonye.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 1747. In þe temple þe veil was kut on two.
1528. More, Dyalogue, III. Wks. 246/1. Ye veyle of the temple is broken asunder yt diuided among ye Jewes.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Chron. iii. 14. He made a vayle also of yalow sylke, scarlet, purple and lynenworke, and made Cherubins theron.
1611. Bible, 1 Macc. i. 22. Antiochus … entred proudly into the sanctuarie, and tooke away … the vaile.
1737. Whiston, trans. Josephus, Antiq., III. vii. § 7. The vails, too, which were composed of four things, they declared the four elements.
1782. J. Brown, Nat. & Revealed Relig., IV. iii. 363. While he expired, an earthquake rent the rocks, and the vail of the temple.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 186/2. The inner sanctuary was separated from the holy place by a rich curtain or veil.
fig. 1382. Wyclif, Heb. x. 20. Bi a veyl, or keuering, that is to seye, his fleisch.
1526. Tindale, Heb. x. 20. Through the vayle, that is to saye by his flesshe.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, Ep. Ded. a 2. We are come … even to the Holy of Holies, through his flesh that hath broken downe the vaile of seperation.
b. Eccl. The curtain hung between the altar and the choir, esp. during Lent. Now Hist.
1427–8. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 68. For makyng of iiij polesis of bras & iron werk and lede þat serued for þe vayl.
a. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 126. Þe vayle þat haþe be drawen all þe Lenton bytwene þe auter and þe qwere.
1505. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 294. For xxvij elne Bertane claith, to be the vail in the chapel of Halyrudhous agane Lenterane.
1530. Palsgr., 284/2. Veyle for the church in lent, custode.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 67. That day the vayelle was hongyd [up] benethe the steppes. Ibid., 69. The xxviij. day after was Ester evyne, and then was the tabulle remevyd, and sette benethe at the vayele northe and sowthe.
1877. J. D. Chambers, Div. Worship, 24. A large Curtain or Veil should be suspended in the Presbytery between the Choir and Altar.
c. Used fig. or allusively in various prepositional phrases, as behind, beyond, or within the veil, chiefly after Heb. vi. 19 in Tindale’s (1526) and later versions of the Bible; now commonly with reference to the next world.
1528. Tindale, Obed. Chr. Man, 91 b. Christe hath brought vs all in into the inner temple within the vayle or forehanginge, and vnto the mercy stole of God.
1722. Wollaston, Relig. Nat., ix. 180. To participate of the mysteries of love with modesty, as within a veil or sacred inclosure, not with a canine impudence.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lvi. What hope of answer, or redress? Behind the veil, behind the veil.
1859. E. FitzGerald, Omar, xlvii. When You and I behind the Veil are past.
1877. A. J. Ross, Mem. Alex. Ewing, xxx. 521. In March, 1870, Thomas Erskine passed on within the veil.
† d. A curtain or awning (cf. quots.). Obs.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxi. (1787), II. 277. The master of the offices stood before the veil or curtain of the sacred apartment.
1790. Bystander, 33. To prevent inconvenience from the heat of the sun, they extended veils … by means of cords attached to the extremity of the building.
4. A piece of silk or other material used as a covering, spec. (Eccl.) to drape a crucifix, image, picture, etc., esp. during Lent, or to cover the chalice.
(a) 1399. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 129. In salario Johannis Payntour pictantis j magnum vale ad cooperiendum crucem stantem infra corpus ecclesiæ in Quadragesima.
1501. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 64. For xliiij elne lynnyn claith, that wes antependis and vales in the Kirk of Strivelin.
1570. B. Googe, Pop. Kingd., I. 11. One vp a lofte the patten holdes, enclosde in silken vayle.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., In the Romish Churches, in time of Lent, they have Veils, or large Curtains over the Altar, Crucifix, Images of the Saints, &c.
1782. in J. H. Harting, Hist. Sardinian Chapel (1905), 25. Burse and veil for the chalice, veils for Benediction and the desk.
1877. J. D. Chambers, Div. Worship, 427. There was a similar veil used also for covering over the Sepulchre on Good Friday.
(b) 1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xix. (1787), II. 151. He … respectfully unfolded the silken veil which covered the haughty epistle of his sovereign.
5. fig. Something that conceals, covers or hides; a disguising or obscuring medium or influence; a cloak or mask. (Common in the 19th c.)
a. Of immaterial things. † Under veil, surreptitiously.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Cor. iii. 15. But til in to this day, whanne Moyses is radd, the veyl is putt vpon her hertis.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 4542. Daunz Anthenor, and Pollydamas, Þat han contreued amonge hem outterly, And vnder veil concelyd secrely, Ȝiffe [etc.].
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lv. § 8. Till that humilitie which had bene before as a vaile to hide and conceale maiestie were layd aside.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 17. Hee remoueth the scales from our eyes, the vaile from our hearts.
1619. Sir H. Wotton, in Eng. & Germ. (Camden), 51. I have likewise a zeale to the cause, which I hope wilbe some vaile to myne other infirmities.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., III. § 13. He [Jesus] taught them by parables, under which were hid mysterious senses, which shined through their veil like a bright sun through an eye closed with a thin eye-lid. Ibid. (1660), Worthy Communicant, i. iv. 90. For Christ in the Sacrament is Christ under a vail.
a. 1735. Lansdowne, Progr. Beauty, 242. Hide with a vail those griefs that none can paint.
1783. W. Thomson, Watson’s Philip III., VI. (1839), 337. His indulgence to the reformed religion covered the violence of his usurpations with a specious veil.
1820. Shelley, Naples, 93. from Nature’s inmost shrine, Strip every impious gawd, rend Error veil by veil.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 1006. The thickest veil covers the whole of these processes; and so far have philosophers hitherto been from removing this veil, that they have not even been able to approach it.
1898. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, xvii. 182. Tearing aside the veils behind which human hearts have slept through many years.
b. Const. of (with defining term).
1382. Wyclif, Wisd. xvii. 3. Bi the derc veil of forȝeting thei ben scatered,… and with … myche w[o]ndring disturbid.
a. 1475. in Contin. Brut, 601. Thou, shewyng there a face ful benygne, Vndyr a veyle of fals decepcioun.
1543–4. Act 35 Hen. VIII., c. 1. The vaile of darcknes of the vsurped power … of the see and bishoppes of Rome.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. ii. 42. I will … plucke the borrowed vaile of modestie from the so-seeming Mist Page.
a. 1639. W. Whateley, Prototypes, I. xi. (1640), 90. To use the mantle or veile of love to cover a multitude of sinnes.
1681. Wyndham, King’s Concealment, 86. Striving to cover her trouble with the vail of chearfulness.
1719. Young, Busiris, II. i. That chastity of look, which seems to hang A vail of purest light o’er all her beauties.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., VIII. III. 77. Under whatever veil of artifice or secrecy the Emperor still affected to conceal his designs.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., viii. Qualities which were visible even through the veil of extreme dejection, with which his natural character was … obscured.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, II. 150. [He] dropped the veil of Mahratta diplomacy, and gave utterance to his opinions.
1882. J. Hatton, Journalistic London, ix. 162. If the veil of anonymity were completely raised, other … names would appear in the list.
c. Of material substances, the clouds, etc. With of or other defining addition.
1598. Florio, Velo,… the mortal vaile, mans carkas or body.
1629. Milton, Hymn Nativ., ii. She woo’s the … Air To hide her guilty front with innocent Snow, And on her naked shame … The Saintly Vail of Maiden white to throw.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, X. cccxx. He who in his Bodie’s vail till now The Rays of his Divinity hath hid.
1663. Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xvii. Between us and the invisible World there is a gross cloud and vail of flesh which interposes.
a. 1708. Beveridge, Priv. Th., I. (1730), 1. I am sure, within this Veil of Flesh there dwells a Soul.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. iii. 45. When the veil Of mist was drawn aside, there hung the sun.
c. 1853. Kingsley, Misc. (1860), I. 44. Fifty years of ruin would suffice to wrap them in a leafy veil.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, ix. 121. A great veil of rain stretches from the sky to the earth.
d. Similarly without specific qualification.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xxi. 188. They do vsually see as it were two heavens, one cleere and bright above, and the other obscure, and as it were a graie vaile spread vnderneath.
a. 1652. Brome, Queenes Exch., II. i. Imagine now you see break through a Vail Amidst those Stars…. The bright Cynthia in her full of Lustre.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 332. The green And tender blade … Escapes unhurt beneath so warm a veil.
1813. Scott, Trierm., III. xxxvii. Such soften’d shade the hill receives, Her purple veil when twilight leaves Upon its western swell.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 129. The climbing plants … form great veils and curtains between and over the trees.
e. To draw or throw (also cast) a veil over, to hide or conceal, to refrain from discussing or dealing with, to hush up or keep from public knowledge. Also without const.
(a) 1701. De Foe, True-born Eng., I. 90. Satyr, be kind! and draw a silent Veil! Thy native England’s vices to conceal.
1744. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 211. I wished from my Soul that I could draw a Veil over Vice-Admiral Lestock’s Conduct in the late Skirmish.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 55. As far as regards their private characters, it may … be the duty of those who are ‘liable to other imperfections,’ to draw a veil over them.
1858. Greener, Gunnery, 351. There was evidence of proceedings having been enacted over which I would rather draw a veil.
(b) 1711. Addison, Spect., No. 169, ¶ 12. The ill-natured Man … exposes those Failings … which the other would cast a Veil over.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond., II. 101. His faithful attachment to the family caused him to throw a veil over suspicions that the rest of the world will for ever indulge.
1823. Lamb, Elia, II. Barbara S—. I must throw a veil over some mortifying circumstances.
1864. Pusey, Lect. Daniel (1876), 545. It throws a veil over the grossness of its error.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 109. He throws a veil of mystery over the origin of the decline.
6. a. A slight tinge or coloring. rare–1.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. i. 40. As for colour, although Crystall in his pellucid body seems to have none at all, yet in its reduction into powder, it hath a vaile and shadow of blew.
b. Mus. A slight obscuration or want of clearness in the voice. (Cf. VEILED ppl. a. 3 b.)
1884. Grove’s Dict. Music, IV. 235. Let no student of singing endeavour to cultivate a veil because some great singers have had it naturally. A superinduced veil means a ruined voice.
c. Photogr. An obscure or veiled appearance.
1893. Hodges, Elem. Photogr., 132. The clear portions of the negatives should remain unclouded and free from veil or fog until the last.
7. In various specific uses: A veil-like membrane, membranous appendage or part, serving as a cover or screen; a velum: (see quots.).
a. Bot. 1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., I. ii. (1765), 4. Calyptra, a Veil, in Mosses.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 811. Polytr[ichum] striatum.… The veils appear in winter, and the capsules in Feb.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 248. For the most part the smell of these [mushrooms] is virulent, and they are covered with a calyptre or veil.
1832. Lindley, Introd. Bot., 208. The velum, or veil [in fungi], is a horizontal membrane, connecting the margin of the pileus with the stipes.
1887. W. Phillips, Brit. Discomycetes, Gloss., Veil, a partial covering of the cup; a membranaceous, fibrous, or granulose coating stretching over the mouth of the cup, soon breaking up into fragments.
b. Anat. 1829. Cooper, Good’s Stud. Med., I. 599. Certain phenomena, which occasionally show themselves in the glottis, larynx, and even in the pendulous veil of the palate.
1854. Bushnan in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 140. This expulsion of water is produced by means of a peculiar arrangement of the veil of the palate.
1859. Mayne, Expos. Lex., s.v. Velum.
c. Zool. 1810. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 4), VIII. 190/2. When young it [the larva] is covered with a veil of black silk.
1834. H. M’Murtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 258. A membranous veil on the mouth supplies the want of tentacula.
1861. J. R. Greene, Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent., 36. Around the margin of the nectosac, the wall of the nectocalyx is produced inwards, forming a shell-like membrane, or ‘veil.’
8. dial. = CAUL sb.1 5.
1879–. in dial. glossaries, etc. (N. Cy., Yks., Chesh., Shrops., and U.S.).
9. attrib. and Comb., as (in senses 3 b and 4) veil-cloth, -rope, (in sense 2) veil (head)-dress, -maker, net; also veil-hid adj.
1424. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 151. Pro … ij tenterapes, et j veylrape cum j corda.
1552–3. Inv. Church Goods, in Ann. Lichfield (1863), IV. 24. Item,… iij clothes to hang afore thalters, ix towelles, a vell clothe.
1611. Florio, Velaro, a vaile or sipres maker.
1813. Brewer, Beauties Eng. & Wales, XII. II. ii. 146. A woman in a veil head-dress.
1826. W. Elliott, The Nun, 41. A veil-hid sister beckons at the door.
1876. Edersheim, Jewish Life Days Christ, xiii. 217. The veil-dress was a kind of mantilla, thrown gracefully about the whole person, and covering the head.
1888. Daily News, 3 Dec., 2/7. Veil nets continue in steady request.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 26 Jan., 3/2. The milliner must watch the coiffeur, the veil-maker the milliner.
II. † 10. A sail. Obs.–1
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, IV. xxviii. (1869), 191. Aboue was þe mast of þe ship dressed wher vpon heeng þe seyl ystreight, whiche ooþer weys is cleped veyl.
