mantle

mantle [man′təl]

n.

[ME mantel < OE mentel & OFr mantel, both < L mantellum, mantelum, a cloth, napkin, cloak, mantle < ? Celt]

1. a loose, sleeveless cloak or cape: sometimes used figuratively, in allusion to royal robes of state, as a symbol of authority or responsibility

2. anything that cloaks, envelops, covers, or conceals [hidden under the mantle of night]

3. a small meshwork hood made of a noncombustible substance, such as a thorium or cerium compound, which when placed over a flame, as in a lantern, gives off a brilliant incandescent light

4. the outer wall and casing of a blast furnace, above the hearth

5. MANTEL

6. Anat. former term for the cortex of the cerebrum

7. Geol.

a) the layer of the earth's interior between the crust and the core

b) short for MANTLE ROCK

8. Zool.

a) a major part of a mollusk or similar organism consisting of a sheet of epithelial tissue with muscular, neural, and glandular elements: it covers the viscera and foot under the shell of univalve or bivalve mollusks, secretes the shell, and forms the body of cephalopods

b) the soft outer body wall of a tunicate or barnacle

c) the plumage on the back and folded wings of certain birds when it is all the same color

vt.

mantled, mantling

to cover with or as with a mantle; envelop; cloak; conceal

vi.

1. to be or become covered, as a surface with scum or froth

2. to spread like a mantle, as a blush over the face

3. to blush or flush

4. Falconry to spread first one wing, then the other, over the outstretched legs: said of a perched hawk