: a loose sleeveless garment worn over other clothes : cloak
b
: a figurative cloak symbolizing preeminence or authority
accepted the mantle of leadership
2
a
: something that covers, enfolds, or envelops (see envelopsense 1)
The ground was covered with a mantle of leaves.
b(1)
: a fold or lobe or pair of lobes of the body wall of a mollusk or brachiopod that in shell-bearing forms lines the shell and bears shell-secreting glands
(2)
: the soft external body wall that lines the test or shell of a tunicate or barnacle (see barnaclesense 2)
c
: the outer wall and casing of a blast furnace above the hearth (see hearthsense 1c)
broadly: an insulated support or casing in which something is heated
: the part of the interior of a terrestrial (see terrestrialsense 3) planet and especially the earth that lies beneath the crust and above the central core
Noun She accepted the mantle of leadership. a long black velvet mantleVerb early-morning fog mantled the fields along the river
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
In comics, T’Challa’s younger sister has assumed the mantle of the Black Panther in T’Challa’s absence. David Betancourt, Washington Post, 25 July 2022 Complicating matters: his old flame Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has somehow assumed his powers and assumed the mantle of Thor. Tim Chan, Rolling Stone, 5 July 2022 Boss-wise, the chief architect of the collection was Marco Falcioni, who recently assumed the mantle as Senior Vice President Creative Direction at the brand. Luke Leitch, Vogue, 25 May 2022 Researchers found that the heavy glaciers weigh down buoyant sections of mantle; when the ice melts, the ground below springs up rapidly. Joanna Thompson, Scientific American, 26 Apr. 2022 On Earth, diamonds form 100 miles or so deep below the surface of the upper mantle. Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Mar. 2022 The resulting impact vaporized part of young Earth’s mantle, tossing rocks and gasses outward. Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 17 Mar. 2022 The Observer has it on good authority that his equally ebullient son has assumed that mantle. The Masked Observer, al, 27 Feb. 2022 As the moon orbits Jupiter, tidal forces generate heat that melts around 5 percent of the moon’s mantle, far below ground. Ramin Skibba, Wired, 6 Oct. 2021
Verb
And now, the Bay Area’s fourth-largest city can add to its awards mantle the fifth-place trophy among the most unfaithful cities in the nation. Joseph Geha, The Mercury News, 19 June 2019 Piero has also taken the liberty of eliminating red in Mary’s clothing, mantling her solely in her other primary color, blue, an expensive shade made from lapis lazuli brought from Afghanistan along the Silk Road. Willard Spiegelman, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2018 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun and Verb
Middle English mantel, from Anglo-French, from Latin mantellum