mantle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A loose sleeveless coat worn over outer garments; a cloak.
2. n. Something that covers, envelops, or conceals: "On a summer night . . . a mantle of dust hangs over the gravel roads” ( John Dollard).
3. n. Variant of mantel.
4. n. The outer covering of a wall.
5. n. A zone of hot gases around a flame.
6. n. A device in gas lamps consisting of a sheath of threads that gives off brilliant illumination when heated by the flame.
7. n. Anatomy The cerebral cortex.
8. n. Geology The layer of the earth between the crust and the core.
9. n. The outer wall and casing of a blast furnace above the hearth.
10. n. The wings, shoulder feathers, and back of a bird when differently colored from the rest of the body.
11. n. 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.
12. n. Zoology The soft outer wall lining the shell of a tunicate or barnacle.
13. v. To cover with or as if with a mantle; conceal. See Synonyms at clothe.
14. v. To spread or become extended over a surface.
15. v. To become covered with a coating, as scum or froth on the surface of a liquid.
16. v. To be overspread by blushes or colors: a face that was mantled in joy.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A loose sleeveless garment worn as an outer covering, falling in straight lines from the shoulders; a simple kind of cloak. Mantles were originally mere pieces of cloth of suitable size and shape, the upper corners of which were brought together and fastened at the neck or over one shoulder, with the loose edges lapping in front or at one side. Those worn during the middle ages and later were large and loose, capable of being drawn across the breast, but usually open in front and secured across the breast by a lace or chain. Long flowing mantles form a part of the distinguishing costume or insignia of British and other nobles and knights, and are represented more or less conventionally behind the escutcheon in coats of arms.
2. n. Figuratively, a cover or covering; something that conceals.
3. n. Specifically— An outer covering of a wall, differing in material from the inner part.
4. n. In founding, a covering of porous clay laid over a pattern in wax. When heat is applied the wax melts and runs out, leaving the clay mantle in condition to serve as a mold.
5. n. The outer enveloping masonry of a blast-furnace.
6. n. In zoology and anatomy, some part or organ which covers, conceals, or mantles: In Mollusca, the pallium. In Cirripedia, the sac, formed by the dorsal part of the integument, which incloses the body. In ornithology, the pallium or stragulum. See stragulum. The tunic of an ascidian.
7. n. In heraldry, same as mantling, 3.
8. n. An inclosed chute which leads water from a fore-bay to a water-wheel.
9. n. In the incandescent gas-light of Dr. Auer von Weisbach, a tube variously composed of one or more of the oxids of zirconium, lanthanum, thorium, and cerium, and prepared by dipping a tube of cotton netting (made by a knitting-machine) into a solution, or mixed solutions, of the oxid or oxids, thus coating the filaments, which after coating are burned out, leaving a consolidated tube. Heated from the interior by the flame of Bunsen burners to the temperature of incandescence, these mantles become strongly luminous, and are said to last from 1,000 to 2,000 hours of constant use.
10. To cover with or as if with a mantle; disguise; obscure or protect by covering up.
11. Specifically—2. In the manufacture of alum from aluminous shales or alum ores, to cover (a partly or completely calcined heap of the ore) with a layer of previously calcined ore. Volatilization and loss of sulphur from excessive heat and the injurious action of wind and rain are thus avoided during the progress of the operation and while the heap is cooling.
12. To expand and spread; serve as a mantle or covering.
13. To become covered with a coating, as a barmy liquid; send up froth or scum; cream, or cream over; foam.
14. To be or become overspread or suffused, as with blushes or color; hence, to display a superficial change of hue or of expression.
15. In falconry, to stretch out one wing after the leg, as a hawk, by way of relief; spread out the wings for ease: sometimes used figuratively.

Wiktionary

1. n. A fireplace shelf; alternative spelling of mantel.
2. v. transitive To cover or conceal (something).
3. v. intransitive To become covered or concealed.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A loose garment to be worn over other garments; an enveloping robe; a cloak. a covering or concealing envelope.
2. n. (Her.) Same as Mantling.
3. n. The external fold, or folds, of the soft, exterior membrane of the body of a mollusk. It usually forms a cavity inclosing the gills. See Illusts. of Buccinum, and Byssus.
4. n. Any free, outer membrane.
5. n. The back of a bird together with the folded wings.
6. n. (Arch.) A mantel. See Mantel.
7. n. The outer wall and casing of a blast furnace, above the hearth.
8. n. (Hydraulic Engin.) A penstock for a water wheel.
9. n. (Geol.) The highly viscous shell of hot semisolid rock, about 1800 miles thick, lying under the crust of the Earth and above the core. Also, by analogy, a similar shell on any other planet.
10. v. To cover or envelop, as with a mantle; to cloak; to hide; to disguise.
11. v. To unfold and spread out the wings, like a mantle; -- said of hawks. Also used figuratively.
12. v. To spread out; -- said of wings.
13. v. To spread over the surface as a covering; to overspread.
14. v. To gather, assume, or take on, a covering, as froth, scum, etc.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (zoology) a protective layer of epidermis in mollusks or brachiopods that secretes a substance forming the shell
2. n. anything that covers
3. n. shelf that projects from wall above fireplace
4. v. spread over a surface, like a mantle
5. n. a sleeveless garment like a cloak but shorter
6. v. cover like a mantle
7. n. the layer of the earth between the crust and the core
8. n. United States baseball player (1931-1997)
9. n. the cloak as a symbol of authority
10. n. hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window)