Word Direct Answers

What does "vail" mean?

Vail: Avails; profit; return; proceeds. [Obs.] My house is as were the cave where the young outlaw hoards the stolen vails of his occupation. Chapman.

Additional senses

  1. 2.An unexpected gain or acquisition; a casual advantage or benefit; a windfall. [Obs.]
  2. 3.Money given to servants by visitors; a gratuity; -- usually in the plural. [Written also vale.] Dryden.
  3. 4.To let fail; to allow or cause to sink. [Obs.] Vail your regard Upon a wronged, I would fain have said, a maid! Shak.
  4. 5.To lower, or take off, in token of inferiority, reverence, submission, or the like. France must vail her lofty-plumed crest! Shak. Without vailing his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic. Sir. W. Scott.
  5. 6.To yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by yielding, uncovering, or the like. [Written also vale, and veil.] [Obs.] Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity. South.
  6. 7.Submission; decline; descent. [Obs.]

Sources