wale

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A mark raised on the skin, as by a whip; a weal or welt.
2. n. One of the parallel ribs or ridges in the surface of a fabric such as corduroy.
3. n. The texture or weave of such a fabric: a wide wale.
4. n. Nautical A gunwale.
5. n. Nautical One of the heavy planks or strakes extending along the sides of a wooden ship.
6. v. To raise marks on (the skin), as by whipping.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In wood ship-building, one of the strakes of heavy outside planking above the turn of the bilge. In wooden war-ships, the main wales extended from the lower gun-port sills to the bottom plank, the middle wales between the main-deck ports and the gun-deck ports, and the channel wales, sometimes called strings, between the spar- and main-deck ports. See bend, 3 .
2. Specifically, to sort or pick (coal) by hand at the mine or breaker.
3. n. A rod.
4. n. A ridge or plank along the edge of a ship. Compare gunwale.
5. n. A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position; a wale-piece.
6. n. A wale-knot.
7. n. A ridge in cloth, formed by a thread or a group of threads; hence, a stripe or strain implying quality.
8. n. A streak or stripe produced on the skin by the stroke of a rod or whip.
9. n. A tumor, or large swelling.
10. To mark with wales or stripes.
11. To weave or make the web of, as a gabion, with more than two rods at a time.
12. n. A picking or choosing; the choice; the pick or pink of anything; the best.
13. To seek; choose; select; court; woo.
14. Choice; good; excellent.
15. n. An obsolete form of weal.

Wiktionary

1. n. A ridge or low barrier.
2. n. A raised rib in knit goods or fabric, especially corduroy. (As opposed to course)
3. n. The texture of a piece of fabric.
4. n. nautical A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship. (See gunwale, chainwale)
5. n. A horizontal timber used for supporting or retaining earth.
6. n. A ridge on the outside of a horse collar.
7. n. A ridge or streak produced on skin by a cane or whip.
8. v. To strike the skin in such a way as to produce a wale.
9. v. To give a surface a texture of wales.
10. n. Something selected as being the best, preference; choice.
11. v. to choose, select.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A streak or mark made on the skin by a rod or whip; a stripe; a wheal. See Wheal.
2. n. A ridge or streak rising above the surface, as of cloth; hence, the texture of cloth.
3. n. (Carp.) A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.
4. n. Certain sets or strakes of the outside planking of a vessel
5. n. A wale knot, or wall knot.
6. v. To mark with wales, or stripes.
7. v. Prov. Eng. & Scot. To choose; to select; specifically (Mining), to pick out the refuse of (coal) by hand, in order to clean it.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. thick plank forming a ridge along the side of a wooden ship
2. n. a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions