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Webster 1913 Edition

Vail

Vail

(vāl)
,
Noun.
&
Verb.
T.
Same as
Veil
.
[Obs.]

Vail

,
Noun.
[Aphetic form of
avail
,
Noun.
]
1.
Avails; profit; return; proceeds.
[Obs.]
My house is as ’twere the cave where the young outlaw hoards the stolen
vails
of his occupation.
Chapman.
2.
An unexpected gain or acquisition; a casual advantage or benefit; a windfall.
[Obs.]
3.
Money given to servants by visitors; a gratuity; – usually in the plural.
[Written also
vale
.]
Dryden.

Vail

,
Verb.
T.
[Aphetic form of
avale
. See
Avale
,
Vale
.]
[Written also
vale
, and
veil
.]
1.
To let fall; to allow or cause to sink.
[Obs.]
Vail
your regard
Upon a wronged, I would fain have said, a maid!
Shakespeare
2.
To lower, or take off, in token of inferiority, reverence, submission, or the like.
France must
vail
her lofty-plumed crest!
Shakespeare
Without
vailing
his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic.
Sir. W. Scott.

Vail

(vāl)
,
Verb.
I.
To yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by yielding, uncovering, or the like.
[Written also
vale
, and
veil
.]
[Obs.]
Thy convenience must
vail
to thy neighbor's necessity.
South.

Vail

,
Noun.
Submission; decline; descent.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Vail

VAIL

,
Noun.
[L. velum, from velo, to cover, to spread over. It is correctly written vail for e, in Latin, is our a.]
1.
Any kind of cloth which is used for intercepting the view and hiding something; as the vail of the temple among the Israelites.
2.
A piece of thin cloth or silk stuff, used by females to hide their faces. In some eastern countries, certain classes of females never appear abroad without vails.
3.
A cover; that which conceals; as the vail of oblivion.
4.
In botany, the membranous covering of the germen in the Musci and Hepaticae; the calypter.
5.
Vails, money given to servants. [Not used in America.]

VAIL

,
Verb.
T.
[L. velo.] To cover; to hide from the sight; as, to vail the face.

VAIL

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To let fall.
They stiffly refused to vail their bonnets.
[I believe wholly obsolete.]
2.
To let fall; to lower; as, to vail the topsail. Obs.
3.
To let fall; to sink. Obs.

VAIL

,
Verb.
I.
To yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by yielding.
Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity. Obs.

Definition 2025

Vail

Vail

See also: vail

English

Proper noun

Vail

  1. A surname​.
  2. A census-designated place in Arizona
  3. A town in Colorado
  4. A city in Iowa

vail

vail

See also: Vail

English

Noun

vail ‎(plural vails)

  1. (obsolete) profit; return; proceeds.
    • Chapman
      My house is as were the cave where the young outlaw hoards the stolen vails of his occupation.
  2. (chiefly in the plural, obsolete) Money given to servants by visitors; a gratuity; also vale.
    • Henry Fielding
      they have found the largest vails in those families where they were not promised any.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of John Dryden to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Aphetic form of avale

Noun

vail ‎(plural vails)

  1. (obsolete) submission

Verb

vail ‎(third-person singular simple present vails, present participle vailing, simple past and past participle vailed)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To yield.
    • South
      Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To remove as a sign of deference, as a hat.
    • Shakespeare
      France must vail her lofty-plumed crest!
    • Sir Walter Scott
      without vailing his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic
  3. To let fall; to allow or cause to sink.
    • Shakespeare
      Vail your regard / Upon a wronged, I would fain have said, a maid!

Etymology 3

Noun

vail ‎(plural vails)

  1. Archaic form of veil.

Verb

vail ‎(third-person singular simple present vails, present participle vailing, simple past and past participle vailed)

  1. Archaic form of veil.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Old French vail, from valoir ‎(“to be worth”), from Latin valeō ‎(“I am worth”).

Pronunciation

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