camail

American  

[kuh-meyl] / kəˈmeɪl /

noun

1. aventail.

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camail British  

/ ˈkæmeɪl /

noun

1. armour a neck and shoulders covering of mail worn with and laced to the basinet

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Other Word Forms

• camailed adjective

Etymology

Origin of camail

1660–70; < French < Old Provençal capmalh, equivalent to cap head ( see chief) + malh mail ²

Example Sentences

On a day, as I kneeled before yon cross, came one in knightly armour and upon his face, 'neath the links of his camail, I saw a great scar—the scar this hand had wrought.

From Beltane the Smith by Farnol, Jeffery

On his black and wavy hair he carries, half-drawn to one side, a scarlet camail, the tippet of which falls upon and covers his wide shoulders.

From The Iron Pincers or Mylio and Karvel A Tale of the Albigensian Crusades by Sue, Eugène

The Cardinal owes its name to the bright red of the feathers, and to a little cowl on the hind part of the head, which resembles that of the bishop's ornament, called a camail.

From History of Louisisana Or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina: Containing by Le Page du Pratz

Ye archiwives,* stand aye at defence, *wives of rank Since ye be strong as is a great camail,* *camel Nor suffer not that men do you offence.

From The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems by Purves, D. Laing

Vervelle, ver-vel′, n. the loop that secured the camail in medieval armour.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various