A mantle (from old French mantel, from mantellum, the Latin term for a cloak) is a type of loose garment usually worn over indoor clothing to serve the same purpose as an overcoat. Technically, the term describes a long, loose cape-like cloak worn from the 12th to the 16th century by both sexes, although by the 19th century, it was used to describe any loose-fitting, shaped outer garment similar to a cape.^[1] For example, the dolman, a 19th-century cape-like woman's garment with partial sleeves is often described as a mantle.^[2]

In English, the idiom "to take up/pick up/assume the mantle" is from the Bible, and means to take a position of authority, leadership or responsibility in a particular area, especially in the sense of carrying on for a previous figure.^[3] The most notable appearance in the Bible is in 2 Kings 2:13, where Elisha takes up Elijah's mantle (Hebrew: אדרת ’addereṯ).

A variation on the mantle is the mantelet (also spelled mantelot and mantlet), typically describing a short version of the mantle. The term appears as early as 1386, in "The Knight's Tale" by Geoffrey Chaucer. In the 18th century, a mantelet was a woman's short cloak, and in the early 19th century, it was an ornamental scarf that crossed over the chest and tied behind, usually made of fur or lace.^[1] By the end of the 19th century, a mantelet was a woman's shoulder cape with elongated ends in front, sometimes held in position by a belt at the waist.^[1]

• Mantle (monastic vesture)
• Mantle (royal garment)
• Gas mantle
• Mantlet (also sometimes spelt "mantelet") - a portable protection wall used in military operations^[4]
• Witzchoura, a 19th-century mantle or cloak