Main Entry:

¹man·tle

Pronunciation:

\ˈman-t^əl\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English mantel, from Anglo-French, from Latin mantellum

Date:

13th century

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 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 c: the outer wall and casing of a blast furnace above the hearth ; broadly : an insulated support or casing in which something is heated3: the upper back of a bird4: a lacy hood or sheath of some refractory material that gives light by incandescence when placed over a flame5 a: regolith b: the part of the interior of a terrestrial planet and especially the earth that lies beneath the crust and above the central core6: mantel