Veil word meaning and definition

[noun] a garment that covers the head and face
[noun] a vestment worn by a priest at High Mass in the Roman Catholic Church; a silk shawl
[noun] the inner embryonic membrane of higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth)
[verb] to obscure, or conceal with or as if with a veil; "a conspiracy of silence veiling it"

\Veil\ (v[=a]l), n. [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.
\Veil\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Veiled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Veiling}.] [Cf. OF. veler, F. voiler, L. velarc. See {Veil}, n.] [Written also {vail}.] 1. To throw a veil over; to cover with a veil. 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.

Morse code: ...- . .. .-..