Definition of "mantle" in English

noun

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

2. (figuratively) A figurative garment representing authority or status, capable of affording protection.

   • At the meeting, she finally assumed the mantle of leadership of the party.
   • The movement strove to put women under the protective mantle of civil rights laws.

3. (figuratively) Anything that covers or conceals something else; a cloak.

4. (malacology) The body wall of a mollusc, from which the shell is secreted.

   • 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.

5. (ornithology) The back of a bird together with the folded wings.

6. The zone of hot gases around a flame.

7. A gauzy fabric impregnated with metal nitrates, used in some kinds of gas and oil lamps and lanterns, which forms a rigid but fragile mesh of metal oxides when heated during initial use and then produces white light from the heat of the flame below it. (So called because it is hung above the lamp's flame like a mantel.)

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

9. A penstock for a water wheel.

10. (anatomy) The cerebral cortex.

11. (geology) The layer between Earth's core and crust.

12. (exogeology) Any similar layer in an exoplanet.

13. Alternative spelling of mantel (“shelf above fireplace”).

14. (heraldry) A mantling.

verb

1. (transitive) To cover or conceal (something); to cloak; to disguise.

2. (intransitive) To become covered or concealed.

3. (intransitive) To spread like a mantle (especially of blood in the face and cheeks when a person flushes).

4. To climb over or onto something.

5. (falconry) The action of stretching out the wings to hide food.

6. (falconry) The action of stretching a wing and the same side leg out to one side of the body.