mantle

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WOTD – 5 August 2010    
See also mantel

Contents

English[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

Old English mentel (“sleeveless cloak”), later reborrowed from Anglo-Norman mantel, both from Latin mantēllum (“covering, cloak”), diminutive of mantum, probably from Gaulish.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mantle (plural mantles)

  1. A piece of clothing somewhat like an open robe or cloak, especially that worn by Orthodox bishops. (Compare mantum.) [from 9th c.]
  2. (figuratively) Anything that covers or conceals something else. [from 9th c.]
  3. (zoology) The body wall of a mollusc, from which the shell is secreted. [from 15th c.]
    • 1990, Daniel L. Gilbert, William J. Adelman, John M. Arnold (editors), Squid as Experimental Animals, page 71 (where there is an illustration):
      Before copulation in Loligo, the male swims beside and slightly below about his potential mate and flashes his chromatophores. He grasps the female from slightly below about the mid-mantle region and positions himself so his arms are close to the opening of her mantle. He then reaches into his mantle with his hectocotylus and picks up several spermatophores from his penis.
  4. The zone of hot gases around a flame; the gauzy incandescent covering of a gas lamp. [from 19th c.]
  5. (anatomy) The cerebral cortex. [from 19th c.]
  6. (geology) The layer between the Earth's core and crust. [from 20th c.]
  7. A fireplace shelf; Alternative spelling of mantel.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

clothing like an open robe or cloak
figurative: anything that covers or conceals something else
zoology: body wall of a mollusc
incandescent gauze in a gas lamp
anatomy: cerebral cortex
geology: layer of the Earth
fireplace shelf — see mantel
top of woman's torso

Verb[edit]

mantle (third-person singular simple present mantles, present participle mantling, simple past and past participle mantled)

  1. (transitive) To cover or conceal (something); to cloak; to disguise.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  2. (intransitive) To become covered or concealed.
  3. (of face, cheeks) To flush.

External links[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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