Link Centre Dictionary

veil

US/veɪl/ fairly common
verb (2) noun (3)

verb

1.

to obscure, or conceal with or as if with a veil

  • “women in Afghanistan veil their faces”
Antonyms
2.

make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing

  • “a hidden message”
  • “a veiled threat”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a garment that covers the head and face

Synonyms
2.

the inner embryonic membrane of higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth)

Synonyms
3.

Origin

From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.

Phrases

  • corporate veil
  • dance of the seven veils
  • draw a veil over
  • humeral veil
  • partial veil
  • seven-veil dance
  • take the veil
  • universal veil

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.