I. ˈmant ə l, -aan- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English mantel, mentel; partly from Old English mentel; partly from Old French mantel; both from Latin mantellum
1.
a. : a loose sleeveless garment worn over other clothes : an enveloping robe or cloak
brought a heavy mantle and covered her from head to foot — William Black
b. : a mantle regarded as a symbol of preeminence or authority
take off the mantle of authority and drop it on younger shoulders — H.H.Arnold & I.C.Eaker
2.
a. : something that covers, enfolds, or envelops
the green mantle of the standing pool — Shakespeare
the mantle of night made it easier for them to forget their youth — T.B.Costain
b.
(1) : the fold or lobe or pair of lobes of the body wall in a mollusk or brachiopod lining the shell in shell-bearing forms, bearing the shell-secreting glands, and usually forming a cavity between itself and the body proper that holds the respiratory organs
(2) : the soft external body wall that lines the test or the shell of a tunicate or barnacle
c. : the outer wall and casing of a blast furnace above the hearth
d. : cerebral cortex
3. : mantling
4. : the back, scapulars, and wings of a bird when distinguished from other parts of the plumage by a distinct and uniform color (as in some gulls)
5. : a penstock for a waterwheel
6.
a. : the external layers of meristematic cells in a stem apex often equivalent to the combined tunica and corpus
b. : the fungal network around an ectotrophic mycorhiza that replaces the root hairs as an absorbing system
7.
a. : a lacelike hood or sheath of some refractory material that gives light by incandescence when placed over a flame
b. : a thin zone at the border of a flame
c. : heating mantle
8.
a. : mantlerock
b. : the part of the earth's interior beneath the lithosphere and above the central core from which it is separated by a discontinuity at a depth of about 1800 miles
9. : mantel
II. verb
( mantled ; mantled ; mantling -t( ə )liŋ ; mantles )
Etymology: Middle English mantellen, from mantel, n.
transitive verb
1. : to conceal by covering : make obscure
its venerable trunk is richly mantled with ivy — J.G.Strutt
2. : to cover with or as if with a mantle
the land is mantled with glacial deposits — W.W.Atwood b.1906
3. : to cause to blush : give a glowing color to
intransitive verb
1.
a. of a hawk : to spread one wing and then the other over the corresponding outstretched leg
b. obsolete : to spread out — used of wings
2. : to become covered with a coating (as of scum or froth)
the poison mantled in the cup — Alexander Pope
3. : to spread over a surface
seldom o'er a breast so fair mantled a plaid with modest care — Sir Walter Scott
4. : blush , color
her rich face mantling with emotion — Benjamin Disraeli