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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The veil of the temple was rent in twain. Matt. xxvii. 51. [ 1913 Webster ]

She, as a veil down to the slender waist,
Her unadornéd golden tresses wore. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A cover; a disguise; a mask; a pretense. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ I will ] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Eccl.) A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar veil. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) Same as Velum, 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Veiled p. pr. & vb. n. Veiling. ] [ Cf. OF. veler, F. voiler, L. velarc. See Veil, n. ] [ Written also vail. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To throw a veil over; to cover with a veil. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight,
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal. [ 1913 Webster ]

To keep your great pretenses veiled. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden. “Words used to convey a veiled meaning.” Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Photog.) A fogged plate. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no veil. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Veined p. pr. & vb. n. Veining. ] To form or mark with veins; to fill or cover with veins. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. veine, F. veine, L. vena. ] 1. (Anat.) One of the vessels which carry blood, either venous or arterial, to the heart. See Artery, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) One of the similar branches of the framework of a leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) One of the ribs or nervures of the wings of insects. See Venation. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Geol. or Mining) A narrow mass of rock intersecting other rocks, and filling inclined or vertical fissures not corresponding with the stratification; a lode; a dike; -- often limited, in the language of miners, to a mineral vein or lode, that is, to a vein which contains useful minerals or ores. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A fissure, cleft, or cavity, as in the earth or other substance. “Down to the veins of earth.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let the glass of the prisms be free from veins. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A streak or wave of different color, appearing in wood, and in marble and other stones; variegation. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A train of associations, thoughts, emotions, or the like; a current; a course; as, reasoning in the same vein. [ 1913 Webster ]

He can open a vein of true and noble thinking. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Peculiar temper or temperament; tendency or turn of mind; a particular disposition or cast of genius; humor; strain; quality; also, manner of speech or action; as, a rich vein of humor; a satirical vein. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Certain discoursing wits which are of the same veins. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Invoke the Muses, and improve my vein. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to veins; venous. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Full of veins; streaked; variegated; as, veined marble. “Veined follies.” Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Having fibrovascular threads extending throughout the lamina; as, a veined leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]