hail

Definition of hail

18 senses · 5 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

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

See all 18 definitions

noun

(uncountable)Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.
(countable)An occurrence of this type of precipitation; a hailstorm.
(broadly, countable)A rapid, intense barrage by a large number of projectiles or other objects.

“Their lack of good intelligence also meant that they vastly overestimated the size of their foes for far too long, hails of armor-piercing shells doing comparatively little damage compared to the high explosive that they should have been using.”

verb

(impersonal)To have hailstones fall from the sky.

“They say it's going to hail tomorrow.”
(intransitive)To send or release hail.

“The cloud would hail down furiously within a few minutes.”
To pour down in rapid succession.
(transitive)To greet; give salutation to; salute.

“[…] Farewel happy Fields / Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail / Infernal world, and thou profoundeſt Hell / Receive they new Poſſeſſor: […]”
(transitive)To name; to designate; to call.

“Such a Son as all men hail'd me happy;”
“He was hailed as a hero.”
(transitive)To call out loudly in order to gain the attention of.

“Hail a taxi.”
“'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket / And the other one is hailin' a taxi cab”
(Australia, UK, broadly, transitive)To call out loudly in order to gain the attention of.

“In Melbourne, you would usually have to hail a tram when you are travelling late at night and there are no other passengers waiting at your stop.”
(transitive)To signal in order to initiate communication with.
(transitive)In the game of uppies and downies, to throw (the ball) repeatedly up and down at the goal location, in order to score a point.
to originate (from), be native (to) or be based (in)

adj

(obsolete)Healthy, whole, safe.

intj

(archaic, poetic)An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.

“Hail, brave friend.”
“Hail (Hail) / What's the matter with your head? Yeah / Hail (Hail) / What's the matter with your mind / And your sign and-a, oh-oh-oh / Hail (Hail) / Nothing the matter with your head, baby, find it / Come on and find it / Hail”

name

A province of Saudi Arabia
A city in Hail, Saudi Arabia
A surname.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English hayle, haile, hail, hawel, haghil, haȝel, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, hagol (“hail”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagl, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz, of uncertain origin. Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos…

See full etymology

From Middle English hayle, haile, hail, hawel, haghil, haȝel, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, hagol (“hail”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagl, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz, of uncertain origin. Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos (“pebble”); or alternatively from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (“cold”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hail (“hail”), West Frisian heil (“hail”), Low German Hagel (“hail”), German Hagel (“hail”), Dutch and Swedish hagel (“hail”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Icelandic hagl (“hail”). Compare also Old Norse héla (“frost”). Doublet of haglaz, if the second etymology (“cold”) is correct. Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Ancient Greek κάχληξ (kákhlēx, “pebble”), or alternatively Sanskrit शिशिर (śíśira, “cool, cold”), possibly also Lithuanian šešėlis (“shade, shadow”), depending on the etymology.

Anagrams of hail

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play hila 7 points

HLAI 7 pts

Words you can make from hail

11 playable · top: HILA (7 pts)

Best play hila 7 points

3-letter words

3 words

2-letter words

7 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to hail to make another valid word.

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HAILS 8 pts