What is "cowl"

Cowl \Cowl\, n. [Cf. OF. cuvele, cuvel, dim. of F. cuve tub, vat, fr. L. cupa. See Cup.] A vessel carried on a pole between two persons, for conveyance of water.
--Johnson.

Cowl \Cowl\ (koul), n. [AS. cuhle, cugle, cugele; cf. dial. G. kogel, gugel, OF. coule, goule; all fr. LL. cuculla, cucullus, fr. L. cucullus cap, hood; perh. akin to celare to conceal, cella cell. Cf. Cucullate.]

1. A monk's hood; -- usually attached to the gown. The name was also applied to the hood and garment together.

   What differ more, you cry, than crown and cowl?
   --Pope.

2. A cowl-shaped cap, commonly turning with the wind, used to improve the draft of a chimney, ventilating shaft, etc.

3. A wire cap for the smokestack of a locomotive.

4. (aviation) a removable metal covering for an aircraft engine, providing streamlining to minimize wind resistance; -- also called cowling.

5. a covering for a chimney or other ventilating shaft functioning to increase the draft.

Old English cule, from earlier cugele, from Late Latin cuculla "monk's cowl," variant of Latin cucullus "hood, cowl," which is of uncertain origin. Cowling is 1917 in the aircraft sense.

n. 1 A monk's hood or hooded robe 2 A mask that covers the majority of the head. 3 A thin protective covering over all or part of an engine; also cowling 4 A usually hood-shaped covering used to increase the draft of a chimney and prevent backflow. 5 (context nautical English) A ship's ventilator with a bell-shaped top which can be swivelled to catch the wind and force it below 6 (context nautical English) A vertical projection of a ship's funnel that directs the smoke away from the bridge 7 (context obsolete British English) A soe

1. n. protective covering consisting of a metal part that covers the engine; "there are powerful engines under the hoods of new cars"; "the mechanic removed the cowling in order to repair the plane's engine" [syn: hood, bonnet, cowling]

2. a loose hood or hooded robe (as worn by a monk)

3. v. cover with or as with a cowl; "cowl the boys and veil the girls"

The cowl (from the Latin cuculla, meaning "a hood") is an item of clothing consisting of a long, hooded garment with wide sleeves. Originally it may have referred simply to the hooded portion of a cloak. In contemporary usage, however, it is distinguished from a cloak or cape (cappa) by the fact that it refers to an entire closed garment. Today it is worn primarily by most Catholic and Anglican monks when participating in liturgical services.

Developed during the early Middle Ages in Northern Europe, they became the formal garment for those in monastic life. Originally they were worn simply to give greater warmth than would an open cloak to people who regularly spent long hours in unheated and draughty churches.

Cowl is a 2004 science fiction novel by Neal Asher. The novel deals with time travel and an epic time war between two factions from the 43rd century. Asher first started working on the novel as a novella named Cowl At The Beginning, which he eventually developed into the full novel Cowl.

A cowl may refer to:

• Cowl, a garment worn by monks
• Cowl or cowling, a removable protective covering over all or part of an engine
• Cowl (chimney), a device fitted to a chimney pot to prevent wind blowing the smoke back down into the room beneath
• Cowl (oast), the revolving device found on oasts, maltings, and breweries
• Cowl unit, a body style for locomotives

A cowl is a device used on a kiln to keep the weather out of and to induce a flow of air through the kiln. They are normally associated with oasts but can also be found on breweries ( Letheringsett, Norfolk), maltings ( Ware, Hertfordshire; Hadlow, Kent) and watermills ( East Linton, East Lothian).

A cowl is a usually hood-shaped covering used to increase the draft of a chimney and prevent backflow. The cowl, usually made of galvanized iron, is fitted to the chimney pot to prevent wind blowing the smoke back down into the room below. Undoubtedly named after the resemblance of many designs to the cowl garment worn by monks, they have been in use for centuries.

When using an open fire to heat a room the smoke rises through a flue to a chimney pot on the roof. Under normal conditions the warm air from the fire will rise up the chimney emitting the smoke with it and dispersing it at rooftop level where it is less of a nuisance.

In strong winds the pressure of the wind may overwhelm the updraft and push the airflow in reverse down the flue. Smoke will then fill the room it is intended to heat posing a health and fire risk, causing discomfort and dirtying furnishings in its path.

When raw coal rather than smokeless fuel is burnt, the amount of smoke may be considerable and measures to prevent backflow occurring are a necessity.

A secondary function is to prevent birds and squirrels from nesting in the chimney. They often also act as a rain guard to keep rain from going down the chimney. A metal wire mesh is sometimes added as a spark arrestor. Wooden cowls were used on oasts to prevent the ingress of rain into kilns, and create a flow of air through the kiln.

A H-style cap (cowl) is a chimney top constructed from chimney pipes shaped like the letter H. It is an age-old method to regulate draft in situations where prevailing winds or turbulence cause downdraft and backpuffing. Although the H-cap has a distinctive advantage over most other downdraft caps, it fell out of favor because of its bulky looks. It is found mainly in marine use but has been gaining popularity again for its energy saving functionality. The H-cap stabilizes the draft rather than increasing it. Other downdraft caps are based on the Venturi effect, solving downdraft problems by increasing the updraft constantly resulting in much higher fuel consumption.