hail

• IPA^(key): /heɪl/, [heɪ̯ɫ]

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• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: hale

From Middle English hayle, 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”)).

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

hail (uncountable)

1. Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.

• hailstone
• hail storm / hailstorm
• hail shaft / hailshaft

hail (third-person singular simple present hails, present participle hailing, simple past and past participle hailed)

1. (impersonal) Said of the weather when hail is falling.

   They say it's going to hail tomorrow.

2. (intransitive) To send or release hail.

   The cloud would hail down furiously within a few minutes.

3. To pour down in rapid succession.

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).

hail (third-person singular simple present hails, present participle hailing, simple past and past participle hailed)

1. (transitive) to greet; give salutation to; salute.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, 249-252:

     […] Farewel happy Fields / Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail / Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell / Receive thy new Possessor: […]

2. (transitive) To name; to designate; to call.
   • Milton

     And such a son as all men hailed me happy.

   He was hailed as a hero.

3. (transitive) to call out loudly in order to gain the attention of

   Hail a taxi.

• hailer
• hail from

hail (comparative hailer, superlative hailest)

1. (obsolete) Healthy, whole, safe.

hail

1. An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
   • Shakespeare

     Hail, brave friend.

• Hail Mary

• Hlai, hila

• IPA^(key): /halʲ/

hail

1. h-prothesized form of ail

hail

1. Alternative form of hayle

From Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóh₂ilus (“healthy, whole”).

• IPA^(key): [hel]
• (South Scots) IPA^(key): [hjɛl]

hail (comparative hailer, superlative hailest)

1. whole
2. free or recovered from disease, healthy, wholesome
3. (of people, parts of the body, etc.) free from injury, safe, sound, unhurt
4. (of material objects and of time, numbers etc.) whole, entire, complete, sound, unbroken, undamaged

hail (plural hails)

1. the whole, the whole amount or number

hail (third-person singular present hails, present participle hailin, past hailt, past participle hailt)

1. to heal, cure

• IPA^(key): [hel]

hail (third-person singular present hails, present participle hailin, past hailt, past participle hailt)

1. (sports) to drive the ball through the goal, etc.

• ower hail (“to overtake”)

hail (plural hails)

1. (sports) goal, the shout when a goal is scored, the goal area

From Old English hæġl, hæġel, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz, either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos (“pebble”), or from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (“cold”).

• IPA^(key): [hel]

hail (uncountable)

1. (weather) hail, hailstones
2. small shot, pellets

• hailie-pickle (“hailstone”)
• hailstane (“hailstone”)

• IPA^(key): /hai̯l/

hail

1. h-prothesized form of ail (“second”)

From Old Norse heill, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kóh₂ilus (“healthy, whole”). Akin to English whole.

• IPA^(key): /he(ɪ̯)ːl/, /hɛ(ɪ̯)ːl/, /ha(ɪ̯)ːl/

  Rhymes: -éɪ̯ːl

hail (neuter haillt)

1. whole, complete, full, entire

   Dem sat å gamsä heilä ättermedagen

   They sat and chewed the fat the entire afternoon.

• IPA^(key): /²he(ɪ̯)ːl/, /²hɛ(ɪ̯)ːl/, /²ha(ɪ̯)ːl/

  Rhymes: -èɪ̯ːl

hail (preterite haile, middle hailes, passive val haile)

1. (transitive) To heal.

• häli