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Webster 1913 Edition


Ventail

Vent′ail

(vĕnt′āl)
,
Noun.
[OF.
ventaille
, F.
ventail
. See
Ventilate
, and cf.
Aventail
.]
That part of a helmet which is intended for the admission of air, – sometimes in the visor.
Spenser.
Her
ventail
up so high that he descried
Her goodly visage and her beauty’s pride.
Fairfax.

Webster 1828 Edition


Ventail

VENT'AIL

,
Noun.
That part of a helmet made to be lifted up; the part intended for the admission of air, or for breathing.

Definition 2024


ventail

ventail

English

Alternative forms

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.