veil

/veɪl/

/veɪl/

Other forms: veiled; veils; veiling

A veil is a cloth covering the head and face, mostly worn by women. Wedding veils are drawn back when the groom hears, "Now you may kiss the bride." (Or else the groom gets a gauzy mouthful.)

This is a technical term for part of an embryo or mushroom, but it’s usually a covering for the head and face. Priests wear veils during certain Catholic ceremonies, and a grieving widow might wear a veil at her husband's funeral. To veil also means to conceal something. You could veil your attempt to steal some cookies by turning the TV up loud as a distraction. When something — like a lie — is "thinly veiled," people can see right through it.

Definitions of veil

1. noun

   a garment that covers the head and face
   synonyms: head covering

   types:

   chadar, chaddar, chador, chuddar

   a cloth used as a head covering (and veil and shawl) by Muslim and Hindu women

   face veil

   a piece of more-or-less transparent material that covers the face

   yashmac, yashmak

   the face veil worn by Muslim women

   niqab

   a face veil covering the lower part of the face (up to the eyes) worn by observant Muslim women

   type of:

   garment

   an article of clothing
2. noun

   a vestment worn by a priest at High Mass in the Roman Catholic Church; a silk shawl
   synonyms: humeral veil

   type of:

   vestment

   gown (especially ceremonial garments) worn by the clergy
3. noun

   the inner membrane of embryos in higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth)
   synonyms: caul, embryonic membrane

   type of:

   fetal membrane

   any membrane that functions for the protection or nourishment or respiration or excretion of a developing fetus
4. noun

   a membranous covering attached to the immature fruiting body of certain mushrooms
   synonyms: velum

   types:

   universal veil

   membrane initially completely investing the young sporophore of various mushrooms that is ruptured by growth; represented in the mature mushroom by a volva around lower part of stem and scales on upper surface of the cap

   partial veil

   membrane of the young sporophore of various mushrooms extending from the margin of the cap to the stem and is ruptured by growth; represented in mature mushroom by an annulus around the stem and sometimes a cortina on the margin of the cap

   cortina

   a cobwebby partial veil consisting of silky fibrils

   type of:

   plant part, plant structure

   any part of a plant or fungus
5. verb

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

   unveil

   remove the veil from

   type of:

   conceal, hide

   prevent from being seen or discovered
6. verb

   make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing
   “a veiled threat”

   synonyms: blot out, hide, obliterate, obscure

   efface, obliterate

   remove completely from recognition or memory

   types:

   mystify

   make unclear

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation