Hail Definition

hāl
hailed, hailing, hails
noun
hails
The act of hailing or greeting.
Webster's New World
Something that falls with the force and quantity of a shower of ice and hard snow.
A hail of pebbles; a hail of criticism.
American Heritage
Precipitation in the form of pellets of ice larger than 5 mm (.2 in), associated with cumulonimbus clouds.
Webster's New World
The distance that a shout will carry.
Within hail.
Webster's New World
A shout made to catch someone's attention or to greet.
American Heritage
verb
hailed, hailing, hails
To precipitate in pellets of ice and hard snow.
American Heritage
To fall like hailstones.
Condemnations hailed down on them.
American Heritage
To drop or pour down hail.
It is hailing.
Webster's New World
To welcome, greet, etc. with or as with cheers; acclaim.
Webster's New World
To name by way of tribute; salute as.
They hailed him their leader.
Webster's New World
interjection
Used to signify tribute, greeting, etc.
Webster's New World
An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
Wiktionary
adjective

(obsolete) Healthy, whole, safe.

Wiktionary
idiom
hail fellow well met
  • very sociable or friendly to everyone, esp. in a superficial manner
Webster's New World
hail from
  • to be from; come from (one's birthplace or established residence)
Webster's New World

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Hail

Origin of Hail

  • The adjective hail is a variant of hale (“health, safety”) (from the early 13th century). The transitive verb with the meaning "to salute" is also from the 13th century. The cognate verb heal is already Old English (hǣlan), from Proto-Germanic *hailijaną (“to make healthy, whole, to heal”). Also cognate is whole, from Old English hāl (the spelling with wh- is unetymological, introduced in the 15th century).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English haile, hail, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz (compare West Frisian heil, Low German Hagel, Dutch hagel, German Hagel, Danish hagl). Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos (“pebble”), or from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (“cold”) (compare Old Norse héla (“frost”)).

    From Wiktionary

  • Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Welsh caill (“testicle”), Breton kell (“testicle”), Lithuanian šešėlis (“shade, shadow”), Ancient Greek κάχληξ (káchlēx, “pebble”), Albanian çakëll (“pebble”), Sanskrit शिशिर (śíśira, “cool, cold”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English heilen from (wæs) hæil (be) healthy wassail

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English from Old English hægel, hagol

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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