Vail

n. [Abbreviated from avails, q. v.]

1Sense 1. Money given to servants. [Written also vales.] [Obs.] Dryden.

2Sense 2. Hence, an unexpected gain or acquisition; a windfall. [Obs.]

3Sense 3. Avails; proceeds. [Obs.]

My house is as ’twere the cave where the young outlaw hoards the stolen vails of his occupation. Chapman.

v. t. [Written also veil.] [Fr. voiler, It. & Lat. velare, from velum.] To hide from the sight; to veil; to cover; as, to vail the face.

v. t. [Abbreviated from avale, O. Eng. avail, q. v.] 1. To let fall; to allow or cause to sink. [Obs.] *Vail your regard Upon a wronged, I'd fain have said, a maid. Shak.* 2. To lower in token of inferiority, reverence, submission, or the like. “And Greek itself vail to our English voice.” Chapman. “Without vailing his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the sanctity of the relic.” W. Scott.

v. i. To yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by yielding. [Obs.]

Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity. South.

n. Submission; decline; descent. [Obs.]