# mantle

Pronunciation: say "MAN-tuhl" /ˈmæn.təl/

## Noun

1. A symbolic cloak standing for a position of authority or status, one that can also offer protection.
   - Simple: The power or important role someone takes on, thought of as a coat that can also protect people.
   - _When the founder retired, his daughter took up the mantle of running the family firm._
   - _The ruling brought part-time workers under the protective mantle of federal labor law._
2. The layer of Earth's interior that lies between the core and the crust.
   - Simple: The layer inside the earth that lies under the crust and above the core.
   - _No drill has yet broken through the crust into the mantle._
   - _Plumes of hot rock rising through the mantle are thought to feed volcanoes far from any plate boundary._
3. An open garment resembling a robe or cloak, especially the one worn by bishops of the Orthodox Church.
   - Simple: A piece of clothing like an open robe or cape, especially one worn by Orthodox bishops.
   - _The bishop entered the cathedral in a purple mantle with a long train._
   - _She drew a velvet mantle around her shoulders before stepping out into the cold._
4. Anything that covers or hides something else, as a cloak covers the body.
   - Simple: Anything that covers something else and hides it from view.
   - _By morning a thick mantle of snow lay over the whole valley._
   - _The old millpond had vanished under a green mantle of algae._
5. Alternative spelling of mantel. — Alternative spelling of mantel (“shelf above fireplace”).
   - Simple: Alternative spelling of mantel. It means the shelf above a fireplace.
   - _The brass clock on the mantle chimed midnight._
   - _She set two tall candlesticks on the mantle above the fireplace._
7. A gauzy fabric soaked in metal nitrates that, once heated, becomes a rigid but fragile oxide mesh glowing white above the flame of certain gas or oil lamps and lanterns.
   - Simple: A thin cloth cover in some gas or oil lamps that glows bright white when the flame heats it.
   - _Once it has been burned in, the mantle is so brittle that one bump can shatter it._
   - _Old streetlamps in the district still use gas mantles that glow a soft white._
8. The body wall of a mollusk, which secretes the animal's shell.
   - Simple: The part of the body of a snail, clam, or other mollusk that makes its shell.
   - _A pearl forms when the oyster's mantle coats an irritant with layer after layer of nacre._
   - _Researchers measured each squid's mantle length to compare growth between the two populations._
12. In birds, the back and folded wings considered together as one area of plumage.
   - Simple: A bird's back and its wings when they are folded.
   - _The adult gull has a slate-gray mantle and pure white underparts._
   - _Juveniles can be told apart by the brown speckling on their mantles._
13. The region of hot gases surrounding a flame.
   - Simple: The area of hot gas all around a flame.
   - _The burner's flame was wrapped in a faint, shimmering mantle of hot gas._
   - _Hold the wire in the outer mantle of the flame and watch its color change._
14. In heraldry, a mantling: the stylized cloth shown hanging from the helmet and framing the shield of a coat of arms.
   - Simple: On a coat of arms, the cloth drawn hanging down around the shield.
   - _The family's arms show a red and silver mantle flowing from the helm on either side of the shield._
   - _On the older carvings the mantles are cut into ragged, leaflike strips._
17. The part of a blast furnace above the hearth, consisting of its outer wall and casing.
   - Simple: The outer wall and shell of a blast furnace, above its lowest part.
   - _Cracks in the furnace mantle let hot gas escape just above the hearth._
   - _Workers relined the mantle of the old blast furnace during the summer shutdown._
18. In anatomy, the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain's cerebrum.
   - Simple: The outer layer of the brain.
   - _In mammals the cerebral mantle has grown so large that it folds over much of the rest of the brain._
   - _The tumor had spread through the mantle into the white matter beneath._
19. A penstock for a water wheel: the sluice or channel that carries water to the wheel.
   - Simple: A pipe or channel that brings water to a water wheel.
   - _The miller opened the gate, and water rushed down the mantle onto the wheel._
   - _A wooden mantle carried water from the millpond to the top of the wheel._

## Verb

6. To cover or hide something, as if wrapping it in a cloak.
   - Simple: To cover something or hide it.
   - _Thick smoke from the fires mantled the valley for days._
   - _Forecasters expect fresh snow to mantle the peaks by morning._
9. To climb over something or up onto it.
   - Simple: To climb over something or up on top of it.
   - _The climber mantled onto the narrow ledge and paused to chalk her hands._
   - _In the game, players can mantle over low walls instead of walking around them._
10. To spread out like a cloak, used especially of blood rising into the face and cheeks when someone flushes.
   - Simple: To spread out like a cover, especially when someone's face and cheeks turn red.
   - _When his boss praised him at the meeting, Tom felt a warm flush mantle in his cheeks._
   - _Her face mantled with color when the judge called her name._
11. To become covered over or hidden from view.
   - Simple: To become covered or hidden.
   - _By late summer the still pond had mantled over with a thick green scum._
   - _Snow fell all night, and by dawn the hills had begun to mantle in white._
15. In falconry, of a bird of prey, to stretch out its wings over food in order to hide it.
   - Simple: Of a hunting bird, to spread its wings over its food to hide it.
   - _The young falcon mantled over the quail, hiding it from the other birds._
   - _Young hawks mantle over their food when the falconer comes too close._
16. In falconry, of a bird of prey, to stretch a wing and the leg on the same side out to one side of the body.
   - Simple: Of a hunting bird, to stretch one wing and the leg on the same side out to the side.
   - _After a long rest on the perch, the falcon mantled, easing its left wing and leg out together._
   - _Our hawk likes to mantle in the morning sun, one wing and one leg stretched out to the side._

## Origin

From Middle English mantel, from Old English mæntel ("sleeveless cloak"), later reinforced by Anglo-Norman mantel; both come from Latin mantellum ("covering, cloak"), a diminutive of mantum, probably from Gaulish *mantos ("trodden road"). Compare French manteau and Spanish manto; it is a doublet of manteau.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mantle (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).