English

Alternative forms

• ventaille (obsolete)
• ventayle (obsolete)

Noun

ventail ‎(plural ventails)

1. (obsolete) A piece of armor used to protect the neck.
2. (historical) The movable front part of a helmet, originally including the visor but later specifically the separate lower section.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:

     A comely knight, all arm'd in complete wize, / Through whose bright ventayle lifted vp on hye / His manly face [...] Lookt foorth [...].

   • 1937, David Jones, In Parenthesis, Part 7:

     nor no ventaille to this darkening / and masked face lifts to grope the air […].

3. (obsolete, rare) That part of a medieval helmet which is intended for the admission of air.

References

• ventail in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

French

Noun

ventail m ‎(plural ventaux)

1. Alternative form of vantail

Usage notes

• This spelling was a product of the 1990 French spelling reforms.