[f. VEIL v. or sb.1]
I. 1. Something serving as a veil, cover or screen; a veil or curtain. Also fig.
In quot. 1748 prob. confused with VALANCE sb.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., II. viii. (1495), 36. A Seraphin louith to see god wythout ony wayllynge of fygure eyther of creature sette bytwene. Ibid., xviii. 43. He seeth god face to face wythout veyllynge put bytwene.
1611. Florio, Velame,… vailings, shadowings or curteins.
1748. Phil. Trans., XLV. 386. The Breach on the East Side, near a Window,… was opposite to the Vailings of the Bed, which were singed.
1842. Is. Williams, Baptistery, I. xiv. (1874), 175. Then when strongest heart is failing Death it calls in to its aid, Strips aside the fleshly veiling Round ourselves that we have made.
1900. Daily News, 14 Feb., 7/4. Vivid flashes of lightning illuminated the whole room, piercing the veiling of the windows.
2. Material of which veils are made. Also pl.
Nun’s veiling: see NUN sb.1 6 c.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 510/1. The widths of gauze for Veiling measure from half a yard to three-quarters in width.
1894. Times, 16 April, 4/2. The sale of veilings is fairly well sustained.
attrib. 1891. Times, 15 Oct., 9/5. A considerable business is being done in silk veiling nets.
II. 3. The action of putting on or covering with a veil. Also attrib. in veiling place.
a. 1586. Sidney, Ps. XIX. vi. [The sun comes forth] like a bridegroome From out his vailing places.
1611. Florio, Velatio, a vailing.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 277. Oh the lacing,… the bonneting, the veiling, the gloving [etc.].
4. The action or fact of becoming blurred, dim, or indistinct; dimness or indistinctness of appearance, esp. in a photographic film or negative.
1890. Anthony’s Photogr. Bulletin, III. 57. Films which have a tendency to veiling and thinness.
1893. Hodges, Elem. Photogr., 122. It is of the utmost importance that the high lights of a lantern slide should be transparent and free from the slightest veiling or discoloration.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 843. A little veiling or uncertainty of the outlines of the discs.
