ventail

[ ven-teyl ]

/ ˈvɛn teɪl /

noun

the pivoted middle element of a face defense of a close helmet.

a flap of mail attached to a coif and fastened across the lower part of the face during combat.

Words nearby ventail

vent gleet, vent one's spleen, vent pipe, vent window, ventage, ventail, ventana cave, venter, ventifact, ventilate, ventilation

Also aventail.

Origin of ventail

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French ventaille, equivalent to vent (< Latin ventus wind¹) + -aille -al²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ventail

It has a tilting helmet with visor in two pieces, and a shutter in the ventail; the leg-armour is still complete.
Spanish Arms and Armour|Albert F. Calvert
The ventail bris dates from the period of the first introduction of the folded fan into Europe.
History of the Fan|George Woolliscroft Rhead
I fail to see why; the weapon that pierced a ventail would pass into the head, and inflict a death-wound.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 5 (of 7) -- Notes to the Canterbury Tales|Geoffrey Chaucer
The other drags him by the helmet, tearing all the fastening, and he strikes from his head the ventail and the gleaming coif.
Four Arthurian Romances|Chretien DeTroyes

She puts on his hauberk with its strong meshes, and laces on his ventail.
Four Arthurian Romances|Chretien DeTroyes

British Dictionary definitions for ventail

ventail

/ (ˈvɛnteɪl) /

noun

(in medieval armour) a covering for the lower part of the face

Word Origin for ventail

C14: from Old French ventaille sluice, from vent wind, from Latin ventus

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012