Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A lightweight lace or silk scarf traditionally worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb, by women in Spain and Latin America.
  • noun A short cloak or cape.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A short mantle.
  • noun A light cloak or covering thrown over the dress of a lady.
  • noun A woman's head-covering, often of lace, which falls down upon the shoulders and may be used as a veil, worn in Spain and the Spanish colonies, in Genoa, and elsewhere.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A lady's light cloak of cape of silk, velvet, lace, or the like.
  • noun A kind of veil, covering the head and falling down upon the shoulders; -- worn in Spain, Mexico, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Spanish lace veil worn over a woman's hair and shoulders.
  • noun A lady's light cloak or cape of silk, velvet, lace, or similar.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun short cape worn by women
  • noun a woman's silk or lace scarf

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, diminutive of manta, cape; see manta.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish diminutive of manta.

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Examples

  • The mantilla was a handsome one, and she thanked Mrs. Ross effusively.

    The Tin Box and What it Contained Horatio Alger 1865

  • Spanish dress, with women often covering their heads with a garment called a mantilla, especially during church services in the south of the country.

    Stuff.co.nz - Stuff 2010

  • Spanish dress, with women often covering their heads with a garment called a mantilla, especially during church services in the south of the country.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Head-covering veils would not be included in a ban as they form a part of traditional Spanish dress, with women often covering their heads with a garment called a mantilla, especially during church services in the south of the country.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • The proposal is careful not to include all head-covering veils, as traditional Spanish dress also includes lace head garments called a mantilla typically worn during church services in the south.

    13WHAM: Top Stories 2010

  • Head-covering veils would not be included in a ban as they form a part of traditional Spanish dress, with women often covering their heads with a garment called a mantilla, especially during church services in the south of the country.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • At last, after a great many hesitations, Zouhra, who is the bravest of them all, ventured to go out with me, buried in the recesses of a brougham, and protected by a very thick kind of mantilla, which after all was hardly any less impenetrable than a _yashmak_.

    French and Oriental Love in a Harem Mario Uchard

  • The flowing lace adornment, reaching from the head to the shoulders, and from thence thrown in graceful folds over the back and one arm, is called the "mantilla," and is the characteristic costume of the ladies of Spain.

    In Eastern Seas Or, the Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83 J. J. Smith

  • Her fat, massive face was painted and powdered; on her head she wore a kind of mantilla also gold-coloured, and about her neck a string of old Egyptian amulets.

    Love Eternal Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • It's called a "mantilla" and it's somewhere between a Jewish kippot and a softball cap in size. brushcop (SFC Sallie, CPL Long, LTHarris, SSG Brown, PVT Simmons KIA OIF lll&V, they died for you, honor them)

    Latest Articles 2009

Comments

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  • Father Conmee doffed his silk hat, as he took leave, at the jet beads of her mantilla inkshining in the sun.

    Joyce, Ulysses, 10

    January 7, 2007

  • Not to be confused with the mantissa. A critter that used to hang out in log tables, but is now bordering on the verge of extinction, having been rendered obsolescent by the hegemonistic march forward of the pocket calculator.

    Possibly with a little help from chisanbop.

    January 22, 2008