veil
part of speech
noun (a veil, veils); verb (veil, veils, veiled, veiling)
meaning for a pupil
1) A piece of thin cloth worn over the head or face, for example by a bride at a wedding or by some women for religious reasons. tree →
2) Something that covers or hides something, like a veil of mist or a veil of secrecy. tree →
3) (verb) To cover or hide something partly. tree →
4) (church) The head covering worn by nuns, and the curtain in the Temple described in the Bible. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life you see a veil at weddings, where the bride may wear a white veil, and in some religions, where women cover their hair or face. In stories, "a veil of mist" or "a veil of darkness" tells the reader something is hidden. "Veiled" can mean hidden but hinted at: "a veiled threat". In church, when a woman becomes a nun, people say she "takes the veil". Phrases: "lift the veil", "a veil of secrecy", "a veiled threat", "take the veil".
examples
- The bride wore a long white veil. tree →
- A veil of mist covered the hills in the morning. tree →
- The nun wore a black veil over her hair. tree →
- My aunt lifted her veil to kiss the groom. tree →
- The plan was kept under a veil of secrecy. tree →
- His words were a veiled warning to stop. tree →
- Clouds veiled the moon, so the night was very dark. tree →
- Some Muslim women wear a veil as part of their faith. tree →
- Effie pulled off her dragonproof veil. tree →
note
Countable noun: a veil, veils. Rhymes with "rail" and "male". Do not confuse with "vale" (a valley, old word), which sounds the same, or "vein" (a tube carrying blood). Respect: wearing a veil is a personal or religious choice and should not be mocked.
In the corpora
- And she arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
- And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
- the ark, and the staves thereof, the ark-cover, and the veil of the screen;
- and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of sealskins, and the veil of the screen;
- And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and thou shalt screen the ark with the veil.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «veil» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.