What does veale mean?
Veale is an archaic English noun denoting an opinion, belief, or conviction. In older usage, it meant the view or settled judgment that a person held, especially when that view was openly declared or firmly held. The word could also carry the sense of a feeling or sentiment more broadly associated with conviction. It is now obsolete in standard modern English, although dictionaries retain it for readers encountering it in historical writing. In such texts, veale can suggest something more personal and definite than an idle opinion: it may imply a belief on which a person is prepared to act. The phrase expressing one's veale, for example, indicates the formal or emphatic declaration of a conviction. Although the sound of the word resembles the modern noun veil, their meanings are unrelated. Veale is chiefly of historical interest and should be identified as an archaic term when quoted or interpreted.
nounVeale is an archaic English noun meaning a conviction, opinion, or settled feeling.
- An opinion, belief, or conviction.
"The witness declared his veale, though others doubted the honesty of it."
"He expressed his veale on the matter without hesitation."
"Her veale was that the proposal deserved a fair hearing."
The plural is now rarely encountered because the noun is obsolete.
"The old records preserve the veales of several witnesses."
An old word for a firm personal conviction, veale preserves a once-common sound of English that now survives mainly in historical texts.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of veale
Veale was an older English spelling of the noun now commonly written vale in the sense of an opinion or conviction. Its immediate historical forms developed through Middle English usage, while the modern spelling belongs to a later period in which the distinction between the long vowel and the diphthong had been regularized. The word is unrelated to the modern noun veil, despite the similarity in pronunciation and modern spelling.
Related word forms
How veale is actually used
Veale is obsolete in modern standard English and occurs chiefly in older literary, legal, and religious texts; it should not be confused with the modern noun veil.
Easily confused with veale
Veale was an archaic noun for a conviction or opinion, whereas a veil is a covering that conceals the face or body.