Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Veil \Veil\ (v[=a]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['e]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["o]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.

Veil \Veil\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Veiled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Veiling}.] [Cf. OF. veler, F. voiler, L. velarc. See {Veil},
   n.] [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.

Source : WordNet®

veil
     n 1: a garment that covers the head and face [syn: {head covering}]
     2: the inner embryonic membrane of higher vertebrates
        (especially when covering the head at birth) [syn: {caul},
         {embryonic membrane}]
     3: a vestment worn by a priest at High Mass in the Roman
        Catholic Church; a silk shawl [syn: {humeral veil}]
     v 1: to obscure, or conceal with or as if with a veil; "women in
          Afghanistan veil their faces" [ant: {unveil}]
     2: make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or
        concealing; "a hidden message"; "a veiled threat" [syn: {obscure},
         {blot out}, {obliterate}, {hide}]