GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
last match results
Found 5 definitions
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Vail, n. [Aphetic form of avail, n.]
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1. Avails; profit; return; proceeds. [Obs.]
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My house is as 'twere the cave where the young outlaw hoards the stolen vails of his occupation. Chapman.
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2. An unexpected gain or acquisition; a casual advantage or benefit; a windfall. [Obs.]
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3. Money given to servants by visitors; a gratuity; -- usually in the plural. [Written also vale.] Dryden.
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Vail, v. t. [Aphetic form of avale. See Avale, Vale.] [Written also vale, and veil.]
1. To let fall; to allow or cause to sink. [Obs.]
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Vail your regard
Upon a wronged, I would fain have said, a maid! Shak.
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2. To lower, or take off, in token of inferiority, reverence, submission, or the like.
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France must vail her lofty-plumed crest! Shak.
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Without vailing his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic. Sir. W. Scott.
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Vail (vāl), v. i. To yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by yielding, uncovering, or the like. [Written also vale, and veil.] [Obs.]
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Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity. South.
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Vale (vāl), n. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. ἔλος low ground, marsh meadow. Cf. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.] A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. “ Make me a cottage in the vale.” Tennyson.
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Beyond this vale of tears there is a life above. Montgomery.
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In those fair vales, by nature formed to please. Harte.
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☞ Vale is more commonly used in poetry, and valley in prose and common discourse.
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Syn. -- Valley; dingle; dell; dale.
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Vale, n. See 2d Vail, 3.
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