Gale Definition

gāl
gales
noun
A strong wind.
Webster's New World
A wind ranging in speed from 32 to 63 miles per hour.
Webster's New World
A breeze.
Webster's New World
A loud outburst.
A gale of laughter.
Webster's New World
Webster's New World
verb

(intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To sing; charm; enchant.

Wiktionary

(intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To cry; groan; croak.

Wiktionary

(intransitive, of a person, now chiefly dialectal) To talk.

Wiktionary

(intransitive, of a bird, Scotland) To call.

Wiktionary

(now chiefly dialectal) To sing; utter with musical modulations.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Gale

Noun

Singular:
gale
Plural:
gales

Origin of Gale

  • From Middle English galen, from Old English galan (“to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream; sing charms, practice incantation”), from Proto-Germanic *galaną (“to roop, sing, charm”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰol-, *gʰel- (“to shout, scream, charm away”). Cognate with Danish gale (“to crow”), Swedish gala (“to crow”), Icelandic gala (“to sing, chant, crow”), Dutch galm (“sound, noise”). Related to yell.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English gale (“a wind, breeze”), probably of North Germanic origin, related to Icelandic gola (“a breeze”), Danish gal (“furious, mad”), both from Old Norse gala (“to sing”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English gavel (“rent", "tribute”), from Old English gafol

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English gail from Old English gagel

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English gail, from Old English gagel

    From Wiktionary

  • Origin unknown

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to gale using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

gale