mantle

7 definitions • 6 examples

the responsibilities of an important position or job, especially as given from the person who had the job to the person who replaces them:

She unsuccessfully attempted to assume the mantle of the presidency.

He has been asked to take on the mantle of managing director in the New York office.

a layer of something that covers a surface:

A thick mantle of snow lay on the ground.

We watched the building vanish under a mantle of thick smoke as the fire swiftly moved through it.

the part of the earth that surrounds the central core

in the past, a piece of clothing without sleeves that was worn over other clothes

a covering, or a layer of something that covers a surface:

They escaped under the mantle of darkness.

the part of the earth that is below the surface and that surrounds the smaller part in the center

a position of authority or responsibility:

He inherited the mantle of leadership at the Transit Authority in the early 1980s.