veiled, ppl. a.
(veɪld)
[f. veil v. or n.1]
1. Covered with or wearing a veil; shrouded in a veil.
| 1593 Marlowe tr. Lucan i. 597 The Nunnes And their vaild Matron, who alone might view Mineruas statue. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 231 Our veyl'd Dames Commit the Warre of White and Damaske In their nicely gawded Cheekes. 1614 J. Davies (Heref.) Eclogue 33 Wks. (Grosart) II. 19/2 Than vp (sad swaine) pull fro thy vailed cheeke Hur prop, thy palme. 1815 Shelley Alastor 151 He dreamed a veiled maid Sate near him. 1820 ― Prometh. Unb. ii. iv. 1 What veiled form sits on that ebon throne? 1851 Ruskin in Collingwood Life (1900) 129 Those veiled vestals and prancing Amazons..will all be forgotten. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn iii, No one recognised the veiled figure. |
b. poet. Of the eyes.
| 1817 Shelley Pr. Athan. i. 99 'Tis the shadow of a dream Which the veiled eye of Memory never saw. 1821 ― Adonais ii, With veiled eyes, 'Mid listening Echoes, in her Paradise She sate. |
c. Bot. Having a velum; velate.
| 1793 Martyn Lang. Bot. s.v. Calyptra, In this sense Euonymus is said to be calyptred, calyptrate or veiled. 1866 in Treas. Bot. |
2. Concealed, covered, hidden, as if by a veil; obscure, unrevealed.
| 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 1 The vailed knowledge of the law. 1674 Boyle Excell. Theol. i. i. 49 A close and critical account of the more vailed and pregnant parts of Scripture. 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 26 Seraph of Heaven!.. Veiled Glory of this lampless Universe! 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. II. 119 Returning the inquirer's thoughts and veiled recollections to himself, as answers to his queries. 1878 J. P. Hopps Rel. & Moral Lect. xiii. 42 On the one hand, all the masks will drop off; and, on the other hand, all the veiled goodness will appear. |
b. fig. Covert, disguised; not openly declared, expressed, or stated.
| 1875 E. White Life in Christ ii. x. (1878) 105 There is a wide difference between a veiled promise and a veiled threatening. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn v, The scarcely veiled sneer which marked his tone of voice. 1899 Ld. Aldenham Colloq. Currency (1900) 316 The Imperfect or Veiled Bimetallism such as that practised under the Bank Act of 1844. |
3. † a. Of sight: Dim, indistinct. Obs.
| 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vi. lxv, Why do we..With curious labour, dimme and vailed sight, Prie in the nature of this King and Queen? |
b. Of sound, the voice, etc.: Indistinct, muffled, obscure.
| 1834 J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 35 It sometimes also presents a further modification, which I call the veiled puff (souffle voilé). In this case, it seems to us as if every vibration of the voice..agitates a sort of moveable veil interposed between the excavation and the ear. 1884 Grove's Dict. Music IV. 235 Veiled Voice... A voice is said to be veiled when it is not clear, but sounding as if it passed through some interposed medium. 1897 Daily News 10 Dec. 7/4 Jenny Lind's Veiled Voice. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 871 The heart-sounds become veiled and impure. |
c. Photogr. Of a negative: Lacking clearness or distinctness; dim.
| 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 477 Isochromatic and other very sensitive plates requiring the greatest possible protection during development, to avoid veiled negatives. |
Hence ˈveiledly adv., ˈveiledness.
| 1879 C. & Mary Cowden Clarke Shaks. Key 690 In the ‘Sonnets’, there is the same spirit of modesty..with the utmost veiledness of diction. 1881 E. Arnold Indian Poetry 73 Blue lotus-blooms, seen veiledly Under the wave. |