Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The movable part of the front of a medieval helmet, fitting over the nose and mouth; the upper beaver.
  • noun A removable flap of mail worn across the mouth and chin.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as aventaile.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That part of a helmet which is intended for the admission of air, -- sometimes in the visor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A piece of armour used to protect the neck.
  • noun historical The movable front part of a helmet, originally including the visor but later specifically the separate lower section.
  • noun obsolete, rare That part of a mediaeval helmet which is intended for the admission of air.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a medieval hood of mail suspended from a basinet to protect the head and neck

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French vantail, from vent, wind, from Latin ventus; see wē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French ventaille.

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Examples

  • I know of a "ventail" in the costume sense, but there is a specific perfumery application/object?

    Play it like a harmonica... ScentScelf 2009

  • Other senses of the OF. word (and of the related forms ventele, ventail, and vental) are fan, vane (of a windmill), sluice, shutter, leaf (of a folding door or picture).

    Medallion Vulcan | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2009

  • Obs. a1330 Roland & V. 863 His ventail he gan vn-lace & smot of his heued in e place.

    Medallion Vulcan | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2009

  • The helmet had a ventail, a mouth flap that could be pulled across and fastened with a strap.

    The Pillars of the Earth FOLLETT, Ken 1989

  • Le but de ce bulletin est de servir de guide technique et de conseil en investissement ceux qui souhaitent se lancer dans la production d'aliments composs pour animaux, tout en fournissant un ventail de rfrences utiles ceux qui exercent dj dans ce secteur.

    Chapter 3 1988

  • The other drags him by the helmet, tearing all the fastening, and he strikes from his head the ventail and the gleaming coif.

    Four Arthurian Romances de Troyes Chr��tien 1914

  • She puts on his hauberk with its strong meshes, and laces on his ventail.

    Four Arthurian Romances de Troyes Chr��tien 1914

  • Erec grabs him by the helmet and forcibly drags it from his head, and unlaces the ventail, so that his head and face are completely exposed.

    Four Arthurian Romances de Troyes Chr��tien 1914

  • Then the knight recalls how the other had basely reproached him about the cart; so he assails him and drubs him so soundly that not a string or strap remains unbroken about the neck-band of his hauberk, and he knocks the helmet and ventail from his head.

    Four Arthurian Romances de Troyes Chr��tien 1914

  • The helmet, and the "coiffe" beneath it, protected the head; the "ventail" of linked meshes was worn across the lower part of the face, and was attached on each side of the neck to the "coiffe", so that it protected the throat; the greaves covered the legs.

    Four Arthurian Romances de Troyes Chr��tien 1914

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