mantling

Pluralmantlings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of mantle.

   The hawk stood over the rabbit, mantling to hide its catch from the other birds.

   Fresh snow was mantling the hills by the time we reached the pass.

   Note

   The final e of mantle drops before -ing, and the form serves both as the verb in progress (snow was mantling the hills) and as the name of an action (mantling onto a ledge takes strong arms). Falconers use it of a hawk spreading its wings over its catch. The same spelling is also a noun in its own right, for the heraldic drapery.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   In heraldry, the depiction of a mantle, or the drapery shown behind and around a coat of arms.

   Above the castle gate, the carved arms are framed by mantling that falls in leafy curls on either side.

   The two families' arms are almost identical, but their mantlings are painted in different colors.

   Note

   A heraldic term for the cloth drawn around a coat of arms. In a full display it usually hangs from the helmet above the shield and spreads down either side, often slashed and curling until it looks almost like foliage. It can be spoken of as a mass (framed by mantling) or counted, as when two families' mantlings are compared.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Cloth of a kind suitable for making mantles.

   The shop's stock ran from fine linens to thick woolen mantling for traveling cloaks.

   She chose a dark mantling with a close weave that would shed the rain.

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