Shroud vs. Veil — What's the Difference?

Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to burial sheets, mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous Shroud of Turin or Tachrichim (burial shrouds) that Jews are dressed in for burial.

A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies.

A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet.

A length of cloth worn over the head, shoulders, and often the face, especially by women.

Something that conceals, protects, or screens

A length of netting attached to a woman's hat or hair worn for decoration or to protect the head and face.

(Nautical) One of a set of ropes or wire cables stretched from the masthead to the sides of a vessel to support the mast.

A length of protective netting worn over the face by beekeepers.

A similar supporting line for a smokestack or comparable structure.

The part of a nun's headdress that frames the face and falls over the shoulders.

One of the ropes connecting the harness and canopy of a parachute.

The life or vows of a nun

To wrap (a corpse) in burial clothing.

Any of various cloth head coverings worn by Muslim women.

To envelop and obscure or shut off from sight

A piece of light fabric hung to separate or conceal what is behind it; a curtain.

To envelop or be associated with and make difficult to understand

Something that conceals, separates, or screens like a curtain

(Archaic) To shelter; protect.

(Biology) A membranous covering or part, as that on the developing fruiting body of certain mushrooms; a velum.

To take cover; find shelter.

To cover with or as if with a veil

That which clothes, covers, conceals, or protects; a garment.

To conceal or disguise

Especially, the dress for the dead; a winding sheet.

To wear a veil.

That which covers or shelters like a shroud.

Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

A covered place used as a retreat or shelter, as a cave or den; also, a vault or crypt.

(figurative) Anything that partially obscures a clear view.

(nautical) One of a set of ropes or cables (rigging) attaching a mast to the sides of a vessel or to another anchor point, serving to support the mast sideways; such rigging collectively.

A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.

One of the two annular plates at the periphery of a water wheel, which form the sides of the buckets; a shroud plate.

A covering for a person or thing; as, a caul (especially over the head)

(astronautics) A streamlined protective covering used to protect the payload during a rocket-powered launch.

(biology) The calyptra of mosses.

The branching top of a tree; foliage.

(zoology) velum A circular membrane round the cap of a medusa.

To cover with a shroud.

(mycology) A thin layer of tissue which is attached to or covers a mushroom.

To conceal or hide from view, as if by a shroud.

(mycology) A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; a velum.

To take shelter or harbour.

An obscuration of the clearness of the tones in pronunciation.

To lop the branches from (a tree).

That which separates the living and the spirit world.

That which clothes, covers, conceals, or protects; a garment.

(transitive) To dress in, or decorate with, a veil.

Especially, the dress for the dead; a winding sheet.

(transitive) To conceal as with a veil.

That which covers or shelters like a shroud.

Something hung up, or spread out, to intercept the view, and hide an object; a cover; a curtain; esp., a screen, usually of gauze, crape, or similar diaphnous material, to hide or protect the face.

A covered place used as a retreat or shelter, as a cave or den; also, a vault or crypt.

A cover; a disguise; a mask; a pretense.

The branching top of a tree; foliage.

The calyptra of mosses.

A set of ropes serving as stays to support the masts. The lower shrouds are secured to the sides of vessels by heavy iron bolts and are passed around the head of the lower masts.

A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar veil.

One of the two annular plates at the periphery of a water wheel, which form the sides of the buckets; a shroud plate.

Same as Velum, 3.

To cover with a shroud; especially, to inclose in a winding sheet; to dress for the grave.

To throw a veil over; to cover with a veil.

To cover, as with a shroud; to protect completely; to cover so as to conceal; to hide; to veil.

Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal.

To take shelter or harbor.

A garment that covers the head and face

To lop. See Shrood.

The inner embryonic membrane of higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth)

A line that suspends the harness from the canopy of a parachute

A vestment worn by a priest at High Mass in the Roman Catholic Church; a silk shawl

(nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind

To obscure, or conceal with or as if with a veil;

Burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped

Make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing;

Cover as if with a shroud;

Form a cover like a shroud;

Wrap in a shroud;