Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VAIL, n. [Fr. voile; It. velo; L. velum, from velo, to cover, to spread over; Gaelic, falach, a vail. It is correctly written vail, for e, in Latin, is our a.]

1. Any kind of cloth which is used for intercepting the view and hiding something; as, the vail of the temple among the Israelites.
2. A piece of thin cloth or silk stuff, used by females to hide their faces. In some eastern countries, certain classes of females never appear abroad without vails.
3. A cover; that which conceals; as, the nail of oblivion.
4. In botany, the membranous covering of the germen in the Musci and Hepaticæ; the calypter. – Cyc.
5. Vails, money given to servants. [Not used in America.] – Dryden.