GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 5 definitions

1.       
   Vail, n. [Aphetic form of avail, n.]
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   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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   An unexpected gain or acquisition; a casual advantage or benefit; a windfall. [Obs.]
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   Money given to servants by visitors; a gratuity; -- usually in the plural. [Written also vale.]
   Dryden.
   
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2.       
   Vail, v. t. [Aphetic form of avale. See Avale, Vale.] [Written also vale, and veil.]
   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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   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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3.       
   Vail , 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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4.       
   Vale , 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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5.       
   Vale, n. See 2d Vail, 3.
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