vail Meaning, Definition & Usage

Vail noun & transitive verb
Definitions
  1. Same as Veil.
Vail noun
Etymology
Aphetic form of avail, n.
Definitions
  1. Avails; profit; return; proceeds. Obs.
    My house is as were the cave where the young outlaw hoards the stolen vails of his occupation. Chapman.
  2. An unexpected gain or acquisition; a casual advantage or benefit; a windfall. Obs.
  3. Money given to servants by visitors; a gratuity; -- usually in the plural. Written also vale. Dryden.
Vail transitive verb
Etymology
Aphetic form of avale. See Avale, Vale.
Definitions
  1. To let fail; to allow or cause to sink. Obs.
    Vail your regard Upon a wronged, I would fain have said, a maid! Shak.
  2. To lower, or take off, in token of inferiority, reverence, submission, or the like.
    France must vail her lofty-plumed crest! Shak.
    Without vailing his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic. Sir. W. Scott.
Vail intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by yielding, uncovering, or the like. Written also vale, and veil. Obs.
    Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity. South.
Vail noun
Definitions
  1. Submission; decline; descent. Obs.

Webster 1913