1
a
: a loose sleeveless garment worn over other clothes : cloak
b
: a figurative cloak symbolizing preeminence or authority
accepted the mantle of leadership
2
a
: something that covers, enfolds, or envelops (see envelop sense 1)
The ground was covered with a mantle of leaves.
b(1)
: a fold or lobe or pair of lobes of the body wall of a mollusk or brachiopod that in shell-bearing forms lines the shell and bears shell-secreting glands
(2)
: the soft external body wall that lines the test or shell of a tunicate or barnacle (see barnacle sense 2)
c
: the outer wall and casing of a blast furnace above the hearth (see hearth sense 1c)
broadly
: an insulated support or casing in which something is heated
3
: the upper back of a bird
4
: a lacy hood or sheath of some refractory (see refractory entry 1 sense 3) material that gives light by incandescence when placed over a flame
5
a
: regolith
b
: the part of the interior of a terrestrial (see terrestrial sense 3) planet and especially the earth that lies beneath the crust and above the central core
6
: mantel
mantled; mantling
ˈmant-liŋ
ˈman-tᵊl-iŋ
: to cover with or as if with a mantle : cloak
the encroaching jungle growth that mantled the building—Sanka Knox
1
: to become covered with a coating
2
: to spread over a surface
3
: blush
her rich face mantling with emotion—Benjamin Disraeli
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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