veil
/veɪl
/- The simple veil headpiece works great with elaborate bridal gowns since the veil does not detract from the overall look.
- Women wear long dresses with embroidered bodices and side panels, and tall hats with long white veils.
- Black party hats with veils made of black pantyhose or some other translucent material can also be made.
Synonyms
- I looked up at the beautiful, full moon, partially obscured by a thin veil of mist, and found what I was looking for.
- If successful, Stardust will become only the third spacecraft to capture such a close view of the dark heart of a comet, normally obscured by a bright veil of dust and gas.
- Tessa was driving, squinting through the veil of rain that obscured all vision not 50 yards ahead.
Synonyms
- Jesus' death was immediately followed by the veil of the temple being tom in two, from top to bottom.
- Hebrews revisits two emphases from recent weeks: the new covenant and the sanctuary veil.
- The English name refers to the gossamer veil which protects the gills when the cap is in its unexpanded state, and which bears some resemblance to a spider's web.
- Unexpectedly, a cover of sadness veiled her eyes and her voice took a gloomy turn.
- In each work, the encrusted outer coating veils a delicate drama of line, light and shadow that takes place just beneath the surface.
- Stephens veils the pastoral subjects with milky washes that streak the surface, and a brown glaze that drips languorously down it.
Synonyms
- Its mention of ‘high-profile cases’ was a thinly veiled reference to Andrew.
- So far it looks like a thinly veiled threat to drag the process out in legalistic wranglings.
- During his brief stop, Howard issued two thinly veiled threats.
Synonyms
Phrases
beyond the veil
draw a veil over
take the veil
Derivatives
veilless
- Those hoodless and veilless are bald or white haired, to a woman, to a man.
- Three women who were caught veilless were bound to stakes and exposed to a pious mob which threw stones until the women died.
- Others, clad in stylish jeans and leather jackets stand in front of the stage, drinking bootleg liquor and swaying to the music along with their veilless girlfriends.
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French veil(e), from Latin vela, plural of velum (see velum).
Our word veil is from Latin vela, plural of velum ‘sail, covering, veil’. The first uses refer to the headdress of a nun, and take the veil, or become a nun, appears about a hundred years later. Christian brides have worn veils since around the 3rd century, taking the custom from ancient Rome. The expression beyond the veil, ‘in a mysterious or hidden state or place’, comes from the Bible. In ancient times the veil was the piece of precious cloth separating the innermost sanctuary from the rest of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The idea soon developed of this cloth representing a barrier between this life and the unknown state of existence after death, giving rise to the current phrase. To draw a veil over something dates from the early 18th century, and is the opposite of reveal (Late Middle English) which comes from Latin revelare ‘lay bare’ in the sense of ‘lifting the veil’.