man·tle
(măńtl)
[Middle English, from Old English mentel, and from Old French mantel, both from Latin mantellum.]
noun
- A loose sleeveless coat worn over outer garments; a cloak.
- Something that covers, envelops, or conceals: “On a summer night . . . a mantle of dust hangs over the gravel roads” (John Dollard)
- Variant of mantel
- The outer covering of a wall.
- A zone of hot gases around a flame.
- A device in gas lamps consisting of a sheath of threads that gives off brilliant illumination when heated by the flame.
- Anatomy The cerebral cortex.
- Geology The layer of the earth between the crust and the core.
- The outer wall and casing of a blast furnace above the hearth.
- The wings, shoulder feathers, and back of a bird when differently colored from the rest of the body.
- Zoology
- A fold or pair of folds of the body wall that lines the shell and secretes the substance that forms the shell in mollusks and brachiopods.
- The soft outer wall lining the shell of a tunicate or barnacle.
verb: -tled, -tling, -tles.
transitive verb
- To cover with or as if with a mantle; conceal. See synonyms at clothe
intransitive verb
- To spread or become extended over a surface.
- To become covered with a coating, as scum or froth on the surface of a liquid.
- To be overspread by blushes or colors: a face that was mantled in joy.
man·tel,
also man·tle
(măńtl)
[Middle English mantel, as in mantiltre, beam over fireplace opening (perhaps from its use for drying wet clothing); see manteltree.]
noun
- An ornamental facing around a fireplace. Also called mantelpiece
- The protruding shelf over a fireplace. Also called mantelpiece, mantelshelf, fireboard
