The veil of the temple was rent in twain. --Matt.
xxvii. 51.
She, as a veil down to the slender waist, Her
unadorn['e]d golden tresses wore. --Milton.
2. A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.
[I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the
so seeming Mistress Page. --Shak.
3. (Bot.)
(a) The calyptra of mosses.
(b) A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a
mushroom with the stalk; -- called also {velum}.
4. (Eccl.) A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's
veil; a paten veil; an altar veil.
5. (Zo["o]l.) Same as {Velum}, 3.
{To take the veil} (Eccl.), to receive or be covered with, a
veil, as a nun, in token of retirement from the world; to
become a nun.
Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight, Love,
sweetness, goodness, in her person shined. --Milton.
2. Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal.
To keep your great pretenses veiled. --Shak.
Vail your regard Upon a wronged, I would fain have
said, a maid! --Shak.
2. To lower, or take off, in token of inferiority, reverence,
submission, or the like.
France must vail her lofty-plumed crest! --Shak.
Without vailing his bonnet or testifying any
reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic.
--Sir. W.
Scott.
Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity.
--South.