Veil, n.
Etymology: [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.]
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. The veil of the temple was rent in twain. Matt. xxvii. 51. She, as a veil down to the slender waist, Her unadornéd golden tresses wore. Milton.
2. A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense. [I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page. Shak.
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.
4 more senses
4. (Eccl.)
A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar veil.
5. (Zoöl.)
Same as Velum, 3. 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.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Veil, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Veiled; p. pr. & vb. n. Veiling.]
[Written also vail.]
1. To throw a veil over; to cover with a veil. Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight, Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined. Milton.
2. Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal. To keep your great pretenses veiled. Shak.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for veil; he lists it under hide, palliate.
Where he writes about it:
Cloak, from the French, and palliate, from the Latin, are the same in original signification, but have diverged in meaning; a cloak may be used to hide completely the person or some object carried about the person, or it may but partly veil the figure, making the outlines less distinct; cloak is used in the former, palliate, in the latter sense; to cloak a sin is to attempt to hide it from discovery; to palliate it is to attempt to hide some part of its blameworthiness. — from palliate