From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Veil \Veil\ (v[=a]l), noun [OE. veile, OF. veile, F. voile, L. velum a sail, covering, curtain, veil, probably fr. vehere to bear, carry, and thus originally, that which bears the ship on. See {Vehicle}, and cf. {Reveal}.] [Written also {vail}.]
1. Something hung up, or spread out, to intercept the view, and hide an object; a cover; a curtain; esp., a screen, usually of gauze, crape, or similar diaphnous material, to hide or protect the face.
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Velum \Ve"lum\, noun; pl. {Vela}. [L., an awning, a veil. See {Veil}.]
1. (Anat.) Curtain or covering; -- applied to various membranous partitions, especially to the soft palate. See under {Palate}.
2. (Bot.) (a) See {Veil}, noun, 3 (b) . (b) A thin membrane surrounding the sporocarps of quillworts {Isoetes}).
3. (Zo["o]l.) A veil-like organ or part. Especially: (a) The circular membrane that partially incloses the space beneath the umbrella of hydroid medus[ae]. (b) A delicate funnel-like membrane around the flagellum of certain Infusoria. See Illust. a of {Protozoa}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: 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 [syn: {partial veil}]
2: 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 [syn: {universal veil}]
3: a muscular flap that closes off the nasopharynx during swallowing or speaking [syn: {soft palate}] [also: {vela} (pl)]
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