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hail

19 dictionary results for: Hail

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hail1

[heyl] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used with object)

1.	to cheer, salute, or greet; welcome.

2.	to acclaim; approve enthusiastically: The crowds hailed the conquerors. They hailed the recent advances in medicine.

3.	to call out to in order to stop, attract attention, ask aid, etc.: to hail a cab.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to call out in order to greet, attract attention, etc.: The people on land hailed as we passed in the night.

–noun

5.	a shout or call to attract attention: They answered the hail of the marooned boaters.

6.	a salutation or greeting: a cheerful hail.

7.	the act of hailing.

–interjection

8.	(used as a salutation, greeting, or acclamation.)

—Verb phrase

9.	hail from, to have as one's place of birth or residence: Nearly everyone here hails from the Midwest.

—Idiom

10.	within hail, within range of hearing; audible: The mother kept her children within hail of her voice.

[Origin: 1150–1200; ME haile, earlier heilen, deriv. of hail health < ON heill; c. OE hǣl. See heal, wassail

]

—Related forms

hailer, noun

—Synonyms 2. cheer, applaud, honor, exalt, laud, extol.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hail2

[heyl] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	showery precipitation in the form of irregular pellets or balls of ice more than ¹/₅ in. (5 mm) in diameter, falling from a cumulonimbus cloud (distinguished from sleet).

2.	a shower or storm of such precipitation.

3.	a shower of anything: a hail of bullets.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to pour down hail (often used impersonally with it as subject): It hailed this afternoon.

5.	to fall or shower as hail: Arrows hailed down on the troops as they advanced.

–verb (used with object)

6.	to pour down on as or like hail: The plane hailed leaflets on the city.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME; OE hægl, var. of hagol; c. G Hagel, ON hagl

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hail¹ (hāl) Pronunciation Key
n.

Precipitation in the form of spherical or irregular pellets of ice larger than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter.
Something that falls with the force and quantity of a shower of ice and hard snow: a hail of pebbles; a hail of criticism.

v. hailed, hail·ing, hails

v. intr.

To precipitate in pellets of ice and hard snow.
To fall like hailstones: Condemnations hailed down on them.

v. tr.
To pour (something) down or forth: They hailed insults at me.

[Middle English, from Old English hægel, hagol.]

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hail²   (hāl) Pronunciation Key
v.   hailed, hail·ing, hails

v.   tr.

1. To salute or greet.
2. To greet or acclaim enthusiastically: The crowds hailed the boxing champion.
To call out or yell in order to catch the attention of: hail a cabdriver.

v. intr.
To signal or call to a passing ship as a greeting or identification.

n.

The act of greeting or acclaiming.
A shout made to catch someone's attention or to greet.
Hailing distance: told me to stay within hail.

interj. Used to express a greeting or tribute.

Phrasal Verb(s):
hail from
To come or originate from: She hails from Texas.

[Middle English heilen, from (wæs) hæil, (be) healthy; see wassail.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
hail (1)

"greetings!" c.1200, from O.N. heill "health, prosperity, good luck;" and O.E. hals, shortening of wæs hæil "be healthy" (see health and cf. wassail). The verb meaning "to call from a distance" is 1563, originally nautical. Hail fellow well met is 1581, from a familiar greeting. Hail Mary (c.1300) is the angelic salutation (L. ave Maria), cf. Luke i.58, used as a devotional recitation.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
hail (2)

"frozen rain," O.E. hægl, hagol, from W.Gmc. *haglaz (cf. O.H.G. hagal, O.N. hagl, Ger. hagel "hail"), probably from PIE *kaghlo- "pebble" (cf. Gk. kakhlex "round pebble").

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

hail
noun
1.	precipitation of ice pellets when there are strong rising air currents
2.	many objects thrown forcefully through the air; "a hail of pebbles"; "a hail of bullets"
3.	enthusiastic greeting
verb
1.	praise vociferously; "The critics hailed the young pianist as a new Rubinstein" [syn: acclaim]
2.	be a native of; "She hails from Kalamazoo"
3.	call for; "hail a cab"
4.	greet enthusiastically or joyfully
5.	precipitate as small ice particles; "It hailed for an hour"

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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

hail

In addition to the idiom beginning with hail, also see within call (hail).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hail (hāl) Pronunciation Key

Precipitation in the form of rounded pellets of ice and hard snow that usually falls during thunderstorms. Hail forms when raindrops are blown up and down within a cloud, passing repeatedly through layers of warm and freezing air and collecting layers of ice until they are too heavy for the winds to keep them from falling.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
hail

Pellets of ice that form when updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops to high altitudes, where the water freezes and then falls back to Earth. Hailstones as large as baseballs have been recorded. Hail can damage crops and property.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\ (h[=a]l), n. [OE. hail, ha[yogh]el, AS. h[ae]gel; akin to D., G., Dan., & Sw. hagel; Icel. hagl; cf. Gr. ka`chlhx pebble.] Small roundish masses of ice precipitated from the clouds, where they are formed by the congelation of vapor. The separate masses or grains are called hailstones.

Thunder mixed with hail, Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptian sky. --Milton.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Halled; p. pr. & vb. n. Halting.] [OE. hailen, AS. haqalian.] To pour down particles of ice, or frozen vapors.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\, v. t. To pour forcibly down, as hail. --Shak.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\, a. Healthy. See Hale (the preferable spelling).

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\, v. t. [OE. hailen, heilen, Icel. heil hale, sound, used in greeting. See Hale sound.]

1. To call loudly to, or after; to accost; to salute; to address.

2. To name; to designate; to call.

And such a son as all men hailed me happy. --Milton.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\, v. i. 1. To declare, by hailing, the port from which a vessel sails or where she is registered; hence, to sail; to come; -- used with from; as, the steamer hails from New York.

2. To report as one's home or the place from whence one comes; to come; -- with from. [Colloq.] --G. G. Halpine.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\, interj. [See Hail, v. t.] An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting. "Hail, brave friend." --Shak.

All hail. See in the Vocabulary.

Hail Mary, a form of prayer made use of in the Roman Catholic Church in invocation of the Virgin. See Ave Maria.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

Hail\, n. A wish of health; a salutation; a loud call. "Their puissant hail." --M. Arnold.

The angel hail bestowed. --Milton.

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Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hail

frozen rain-drops; one of the plagues of Egypt (Ex. 9:23). It is mentioned by Haggai as a divine judgment (Hag. 2:17). A hail-storm destroyed the army of the Amorites when they fought against Joshua (Josh. 10:11). Ezekiel represents the wall daubed with untempered mortar as destroyed by great hail-stones (Ezek. 13:11). (See also 38:22; Rev. 8:7; 11:19; 16:21.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

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