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 heated
3 : the upper back of a bird
4 : a lacy hood or sheath of some refractory material that gives light by incandescence when placed over a flame
5 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 core
6 : mantel