ventail
Americannoun
-
the pivoted middle element of a face defense of a close helmet.
-
a flap of mail attached to a coif and fastened across the lower part of the face during combat.
noun
Etymology
Origin of ventail
1300–50; Middle English < Middle French ventaille, equivalent to vent (< Latin ventus wind 1 ) + -aille -al 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ranking just after Vienna, Paris and Madrid it can elevate its ventail at Milan and the Tower of London.
From Time Magazine Archive
Then he alighteth over him and taketh off the coif of his habergeon and unlaceth his ventail.
From The High History of the Holy Graal by Evans, Sebastian
He lowereth his ventail and taketh off his helm.
From The High History of the Holy Graal by Evans, Sebastian
The tears ran down from his comely eyes right amidst his face and through the ventail, and, had he durst make other dole, yet greater would it have been.
From The High History of the Holy Graal by Evans, Sebastian
She puts on his hauberk with its strong meshes, and laces on his ventail.
From Four Arthurian Romances by Comfort, William Wistar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
