Mantling

man·tle  (mntl)

n.

1. A loose sleeveless coat worn over outer garments; a cloak.

2. Something that covers, envelops, or conceals: "On a summer night . . . a mantle of dust hangs over the gravel roads" John Dollard.

3. Variant of mantel.

4. The outer covering of a wall.

5. A zone of hot gases around a flame.

6. A device in gas lamps consisting of a sheath of threads that gives off brilliant illumination when heated by the flame.

7. Anatomy The cerebral cortex.

8. Geology The layer of the earth between the crust and the core.

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

10. The wings, shoulder feathers, and back of a bird when differently colored from the rest of the body.

11. Zoology

a. A fold or pair of folds of the body wall that lines the shell and secretes the substance that forms the shell in mollusks and brachiopods.

b. The soft outer wall lining the shell of a tunicate or barnacle.

v. man·tled, man·tling, man·tles

v.tr.

To cover with or as if with a mantle; conceal. See Synonyms at clothe.

v.intr.

1. To spread or become extended over a surface.

2. To become covered with a coating, as scum or froth on the surface of a liquid.

3. To be overspread by blushes or colors: a face that was mantled in joy.

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[Middle English, from Old English mentel and from Old French mantel, both from Latin mantellum.]