to take the veil
1
9.8
- idiom
:
tomar el velo
- She entered Longchamp with the first group of women to take the veil in 1260 and served two terms as abbess, the first covering approximately the years 1264-75 and the second more definitely established as 1281-87.
Examples
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After much contemplation, she decided to take the veil and dedicate her life to serving others.
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-She's going to take the veil.
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"Taking the veil is for nuns."
Fiction book (1998) -
The literacy campaign meant that for the first time women could leave home without marrying, dying, prostituting themselves, or taking the veil.
Academic text (1990) -
A young woman felt called to take the veil and joined a local convent to embrace her faith.
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In her journey of faith, she chose to take the veil and become a nun in a cloistered community.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'take' (assume a state) plus 'veil' (a head-covering) yields the image of 'assuming/putting on the veil,' which can reasonably be linked to entering the religious role that uses a veil. However, the specific conventionalized meaning 'to become a nun' relies on cultural/religious knowledge and is not fully predictable for all B1 learners without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Take the veil comes from the image of a woman putting on a nun's veil when she joins a convent; the idea of taking the cloth showed she was making a promise to live as a nun. So, take the veil now means 'to become a nun'.