Velum : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: Velum	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for Velum
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
velum n a membranous covering attached to the immature fruiting body of certain mushrooms Synonym(s): veil, velum a muscular flap that closes off the nasopharynx during swallowing or speaking Synonym(s): soft palate, velum
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Veil \Veil\ (v[amac]l), n. [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 unadorn[82]d 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. (Eccl.) A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar veil. 5. (Zo[94]l.) 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.