mantle

WOTD - 5 August 2010    

See also mantel

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈmantl/
• (US) IPA: /ˈmæn.təl/, SAMPA: /"m{n.t@l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æntəl
• Homophone: mantel

Noun

mantle (plural mantles)

1. A piece of clothing somewhat like an open robe or cloak, especially that worn by Orthodox bishops. [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.]
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.

Quotations

• 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.

Derived terms

• assume the mantle
• gas mantle
• mantlepiece
• mantle-tree
• upper mantle

Translations

clothing like an open robe or cloak

Bulgarian: аба (bg) (abá) Chinese: Mandarin: 斗篷 (zh) (dǒupeng) Esperanto: mantelo (eo) Finnish: (Orthodox) mantia (fi) French: manteau (fr) m. German: Mantel (de) m. Greek: μανδύας (el) (mandýas) m.

Icelandic: möntull (is) m. Japanese: マント (ja) (manto), マントル (ja) (mantoru) Korean: 망토 (ko) (mangto) Latin: amictus (la) m. Macedonian: мантија (mk) (mántija) f. Portuguese: manto (pt) m. Russian: мантия (ru) (mántija) f. Scottish Gaelic: cleòc (gd) m.

figurative: anything that covers or conceals something else

Finnish: vaippa (fi), peite (fi)

German: Mantel (de) m., Hülle (de) f., Umhüllung (de) f.

zoology: body wall of a mollusc

Finnish: vaippa (fi) German: Mantel (de) m. Latin: amictus (la) m.

Portuguese: manto (pt) m. Russian: мантия (ru) (mántija) f.

incandescent gauze in a gas lamp

Finnish: hehkusukka (fi), sukka (fi)

German: Glühstrumpf (de) m. Russian: калильная сетка (ru) (kalíl'naja sétka) f.

anatomy: cerebral cortex

Finnish: aivokuori (fi)

German: Hirnrinde (de) f., short: Rinde (de) f.

geology: layer of the Earth

Chinese: Mandarin: 地幔 (cmn) (dìmàn); 地函 (cmn) (dìhán) Dutch: aardmantel (nl), mantel (nl) Esperanto: termantelo (eo) Finnish: vaippa (fi) French: manteau (fr) m. German: Erdmantel (de) m., short: Mantel (de) m.

Greek: μανδύας (el) (mandýas) m. Italian: mantello (it) m. Korean: 맨틀 (ko) (maenteul) Latin: amictus (la) m. Norwegian: mantel (no) m. Portuguese: manto (pt) m. Russian: мантия (ru) (mántija) f. Spanish: manto (es) m.

fireplace shelf — see mantel

top of woman's torso

Finnish: miehusta (fi)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cover or conceal (something).
2. (intransitive) To become covered or concealed.

External links

• Gas mantle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Gas mantle
• Mantle (geology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Mantle (geology)
• mantle (mollusc) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:mantle (mollusc)

Anagrams

• lament, Lament.
• malent
• mantel
• mental