Veil

(väl), n. [O. Fr. veile, vaile, N. Fr. voile, Pr. vel, Sp. & It. velo, Pg. veo, Lat. velum, a sail, covering, curtain, vail, contracted from vehulum, from vehere, to bear, carry, and thus originally that which bears the ship on.] [Written also vail.] 1. Something to intercept the view, and hide an object; especially, a screen, usually of thin gauze or similar material, to hide or protect the face; a cover; a curtain. *She, as a veil, down to the slender waist Her unadorned, golden tresses wore. Milton.* 2. A cover; a disguise. I will pluck the veil of modesty from the so-seeming Mrs. Page. Shak. 3. (Bot.) (a.) The calyptra of mosses. (b.) A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk. To take the veil, to receive, or be covered with, a veil, as a nun, in token of retirement from the world; to enter a cloister and become a nun.