Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Precipitation in the form of spherical or irregular pellets of ice larger than 5 millimeters (0.2 inch) in diameter, usually associated with thunderstorms.
- noun Something that falls with the force and quantity of a shower of ice and hard snow.
- intransitive verb To precipitate in pellets of ice and hard snow.
- intransitive verb To fall like hailstones.
- intransitive verb To pour (something) down or forth.
- intransitive verb To salute or greet.
- intransitive verb To greet or acclaim enthusiastically.
- intransitive verb To call out or yell in order to catch the attention of.
- intransitive verb To signal or call to a passing ship as a greeting or identification.
- noun The act of greeting or acclaiming.
- noun A shout made to catch someone's attention or to greet.
- noun Hailing distance.
- interjection Used to express a greeting or tribute.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To pour down hail.
- To pour down or put forth like hail; emit in rapid succession.
- To salute; welcome; address.
- To call to, as a person, or, by metonymy, a place, house, ship, etc., at a distance; cry out to in order to attract attention.
- To offer or exchange greeting or tidings; report or declare one's self.
- noun A salutation; greeting; call; summons; challenge of attention.
-     See hale .
- noun The varions responses made by naval officers at night to the sentry, by which the latter may learn the rank of the officer approaching the vessel, are as follows: Flag-officers answer “flag!” the captain gives the name of his ship; the ward-room officers answer, “Aye, aye!” the steerage and warrant officers answer, “No, no!” and petty officers and members of the crew answer, “Hello!” Yachtsmen have adopted this code with a slight modification.
- Be whole; be safe; be happy: a term of salutation now used without thought of its literal meaning, and merely as an exclamatory expression of well-wishing: used absolutely, or followed by a noun with to.
- noun Pellets of ice falling in showers.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To pour down particles of ice, or frozen vapors.
- transitive verb To pour forcibly down, as hail.
- noun 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.
- interjection An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
- interjection See in the Vocabulary.
- interjection   a form of prayer made use of in the Roman Catholic Church in invocation of the Virgin. See Ave Maria .
- noun A wish of health; a salutation; a loud call.
- transitive verb To call loudly to, or after; to accost; to salute; to address.
- transitive verb To name; to designate; to call.
- adjective   Healthy. See hale (the preferable spelling).
- intransitive verb   To declare, by hailing, the port from which a vessel sails or where she is registered; hence, to sail; to come; -- used with from .
- intransitive verb colloq. To report as one's home or the place from whence one comes; to come; -- with from.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun   Balls or pieces of ice falling asprecipitation , often in connection with athunderstorm .
- verb impersonal Said of the weather when hail is falling.
- verb transitive to send or release hail
- verb transitive  to greet 
- verb transitive  to praise enthusiastically
- verb transitive to call out loudly in order to gain the attention of
- adjective obsolete  Healthy ,whole ,safe .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb call for
- verb praise vociferously
- verb precipitate as small ice particles
- verb be a native of
- noun precipitation of ice pellets when there are strong rising air currents
- noun many objects thrown forcefully through the air
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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								The term hail was a common mode of salutation to a king, or even to a friend. 
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								After marching for an hour toward the city center, they encountered what he described as a hail of gunfire volleyed by Gaddafi forces into the crowd. Rebel army may be formed as Tripoli fails to oust Gaddafi 2011 
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								After marching for an hour toward the city center, they encountered what he described as a hail of gunfire volleyed by Gaddafi forces into the crowd. Rebel army may be formed as Tripoli fails to oust Gaddafi 2011 
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								After marching for an hour toward the city center, they encountered what he described as a hail of gunfire directed by Gaddafi forces into the crowd. Rebel army may be formed as Tripoli fails to oust Gaddafi 2011 
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								After marching for an hour toward the city center, they encountered what he described as a hail of gunfire volleyed by Gaddafi forces into the crowd. Rebel army may be formed as Tripoli fails to oust Gaddafi 2011 
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								The second is thematic, the third is what I call a hail Mary choice, and the fourth is what I call a comfort choice. 
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								That's when Craig Johnson sought what he called a "hail Mary" civil commitment hearing, seeking to keep Johnson off the streets. The Seattle Times 2011 
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								The "hail" is Jehovah's wrathful visitation (Isa 30: 30; 28: 2, 17). 
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								Next Post I've never been prouder to hail from the 708 area code than I am today 'Bones' cast takes us behind the scenes (and the belt buckle) | EW.com 2009 
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								He's used his national recruiting connections to create geographic diversity — the five players expected to make their commitment official on signing day each hail from a different state. St. John's Lavin Is Turning Heads With His 2011 Class Kevin Clark 2010 
rhizome31 commented on the word hail
La grêle
October 29, 2008