gale

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“
Leach," he concluded the conference held with the mate by saying; "and by that time the gale will be at its height, if we are to have a gale, and then the gentleman will not be desirous of lowering his boats.

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Definitions (37)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A very strong wind.
  2. noun Any of four winds with speeds of from 32 to 63 miles (51 to 102 kilometers) per hour, according to the Beaufort scale.
  3. noun A fresh gale.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (24)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (6)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

breeze ·  squall ·  hurricane ·  tempest ·  storm ·  gust ·  blizzard ·  tide ·  blast ·  weather ·  monsoon ·  downpour
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (9)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Origin unknown.
  2. Middle English gail, from Old English gagel.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (7)

  1. Middle English galen, sing, cry, croak, from Anglo-Saxon galan (preterit gōl, past participle galen), sing, = Old Saxon galan = Old High German galan, sing, = Icelandic gala, sing, chant, crow, = Swedish gala = Danish gale, crow. A deriv. of this verb appears in comp. nightingale, q. v., and prob., more remotely, in gale.
  2. from gale, v.
  3. from Middle English gale, a wind, breeze; prob. of Scandinavian origin: cf. Danish gal = Swedish galen, furious, mad, = Norwegian galen, furious, violent, wild, mad, etc. (particularly used of wind and storm: ein galen storm, eit galet veder (veer), a furious storm), = Icelandic galinn, furious, mad, frantic, properly past participle of gala, sing, chant (cf. galdra-hridh, a storm raised by spells): see gale. Less prob. from Icelandic gol, modern gola, a breeze. Cf. Irish gal, smoke, vapor, steam, heat, gal gaoithe, a gale of wind (gaoth, wind).
  4. = Scots gaul, from Middle English gawl, gawyl, gaʒel, from Anglo-Saxon gagel, masculine, gagelle, gagolle, feminine, gale, = Middle Dutch gaghel, Dutch gagel = Middle Low German gagele-(krūt), wild myrtle, = German gagel, a myrtle-bush, prob. = Icelandic *gagl, in comp. gaglvidhr, occurring but once, and supposed to mean myrtle, sweet-gale, from gagl + vidhr = Anglo-Saxon wudu, wood, tree.
  5. Contr. of gavel, q. v.
  6. English dial.
  7. Cf. galley-halfpenny.
 

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