Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Vail
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.
1.
To let fall; to allow or cause to sink.
[Obs.]
Vail
your regardUpon 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.
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.
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.
Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity. Obs.