Same as Veil.
Avails; profit; return; proceeds. [Obs.] My house is as were the cave where the young outlaw hoards the stolen vails of his occupation. Chapman.
An unexpected gain or acquisition; a casual advantage or benefit; a windfall. [Obs.]
Money given to servants by visitors; a gratuity; -- usually in the plural. [Written also vale.] Dryden.
To let fail; to allow or cause to sink. [Obs.] Vail your regard Upon a wronged, I would fain have said, a maid! Shak.
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.
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.
Submission; decline; descent. [Obs.]
98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.