veil

CEFRB2

/veɪl/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A thin covering that hides or partly covers something.

  2. 02

    verb

    To hide or cover something.

Examples

  • It was night, and a veil of darkness covered the streets.

  • This bride is covering her face with a veil.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.

  2. Anything that partially obscures a clear view.

  3. Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

More examples

In context

  • a nun's veil

  • a paten veil

  • an altar veil

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The bride traditionally wears a white blank over her face during the ceremony.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.