▪ I. veiling, vbl. n.
(ˈveɪlɪŋ)
[f. veil v. or n.1]
I. 1. Something serving as a veil, cover, or screen; a veil or curtain. Also fig.
In quot. 1748 prob. confused with valance n.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. viii. (1495) 36 A Seraphin louith to see god wythout ony wayllynge of fygure eyther of creature sette bytwene. Ibid. xviii. 43 He seeth god face to face wythout veyllynge put bytwene. 1611 Florio, Velame,..vailings, shadowings or curteins. 1748 Phil. Trans. XLV. 386 The Breach on the East Side, near a Window,..was opposite to the Vailings of the Bed, which were singed. 1842 Is. Williams Baptistery i. xiv. (1874) 175 Then when strongest heart is failing Death it calls in to its aid, Strips aside the fleshly veiling Round ourselves that we have made. 1900 Daily News 14 Feb. 7/4 Vivid flashes of lightning illuminated the whole room, piercing the veiling of the windows. |
2. Material of which veils are made. Also pl.
nun's veiling: see nun n.1 6 c.
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 510/1 The widths of gauze for Veiling measure from half a yard to three-quarters in width. 1894 Times 16 April 4/2 The sale of veilings is fairly well sustained. |
| attrib. 1891 Times 15 Oct. 9/5 A considerable business is being done in silk veiling nets. |
II. 3. The action of putting on or covering with a veil. Also attrib. in veiling place.
| a 1586 Sidney Ps. xix. vi, [The sun comes forth] like a bridegroome From out his vailing places. 1611 Florio, Velatio, a vailing. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 277 Oh the lacing,..the bonneting, the veiling, the gloving [etc.]. |
4. The action or fact of becoming blurred, dim, or indistinct; dimness or indistinctness of appearance, esp. in a photographic film or negative.
| 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bulletin III. 57 Films which have a tendency to veiling and thinness. 1893 Hodges Elem. Photogr. 122 It is of the utmost importance that the high lights of a lantern slide should be transparent and free from the slightest veiling or discoloration. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 843 A little veiling or uncertainty of the outlines of the discs. |
▪ II. veiling, ppl. a.
(ˈveɪlɪŋ)
[f. veil v.]
That veils, covers, or conceals.
| a 1672 Sterry Freed. Will (1675) 128 God is seen by the Soul, but shadowed by this shadowy and vailing Image within which he resides. 1820 Keats Isabella xlvii, Then 'gan she work again; nor stay'd her care, But to throw back at times her veiling hair. 1855 Rossetti Poems (1904) 183/1 Not till this veiling world shall cease And harvest yield its whole increase. 1867 J. Ingelow Story of Doom i. 278 Then she pushed Her veiling hair back from her round, soft eyes. |