Hail

Pronunciation

• IPA: /heɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: hale

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")).

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").

Full definition of hail

Noun

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

Derived terms

• hailstone
• hail storm
  hailstorm
• hail shaft
  hailshaft

Verb

1. (impersonal) Said of the weather when hail is falling.They say it's going to hail tomorrow.
2. (transitive) to send or release hailThe cloud would hail down furiously within a few minutes.

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).

Verb

1. (transitive) to greet; give salutation to; salute.
2. (transitive) To name; to designate; to call.
• MiltonAnd such a son as all men hailed me happy.
3. He was hailed as a hero.
4. (transitive) to call out loudly in order to gain the attention ofHail a taxi.

Derived terms

• hailer
• hail from

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Healthy, whole, safe.

Interjection

1. An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
• ShakespeareHail, brave friend.----