veil [ME] Our word veil is from Latin vela, plural of velum ‘sail, covering, veil’. The first uses refer to the headdress of a nun, and take the veil, or become a nun, appears about a hundred years later. Christian brides have worn veils since around the 3rd century, taking the custom from ancient Rome. The expression beyond the veil [E17th], ‘in a mysterious or hidden state or place’, comes from the Bible. In ancient times the veil was the piece of precious cloth separating the innermost sanctuary from the rest of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The idea soon developed of this cloth representing a barrier between this life and the unknown state of existence after death, giving rise to the current phrase. To draw a veil over something dates from the early 18th century, and is the opposite of reveal [LME] which comes from Latin revelare ‘lay bare’ in the sense of ‘lifting the veil’.