ventail

English

Noun

ventail (plural ventails)

1. (obsolete) A piece of armour used to protect the neck.
2. (historical) The movable front part of a helmet, originally including the visor but later specifically the separate lower section.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:

     A comely knight, all arm'd in complete wize, / Through whose bright ventayle lifted vp on hye / His manly face [...] Lookt foorth [...].

3. (obsolete, rare) That part of a mediaeval helmet which is intended for the admission of air.

References

• ventail in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913