Hail Definition

hāl

hailed, hailing, hails

noun

hails

The act of hailing or greeting.

Webster's New World

Something that falls with the force and quantity of a shower of ice and hard snow.

A hail of pebbles; a hail of criticism.

American Heritage

Precipitation in the form of pellets of ice larger than 5 mm (.2 in), associated with cumulonimbus clouds.

Webster's New World

The distance that a shout will carry.

Within hail.

Webster's New World

A shout made to catch someone's attention or to greet.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

verb

hailed, hailing, hails

To precipitate in pellets of ice and hard snow.

American Heritage

To fall like hailstones.

Condemnations hailed down on them.

American Heritage

To drop or pour down hail.

It is hailing.

Webster's New World

To welcome, greet, etc. with or as with cheers; acclaim.

Webster's New World

To name by way of tribute; salute as.

They hailed him their leader.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

interjection

Used to signify tribute, greeting, etc.

Webster's New World

An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.

Wiktionary

adjective

(obsolete) Healthy, whole, safe.

Wiktionary

idiom

hail fellow well met

very sociable or friendly to everyone, esp. in a superficial manner

Webster's New World

hail from

to be from; come from (one's birthplace or established residence)

Webster's New World

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Hail

Origin of Hail

The adjective hail is a variant of hale (“health, safety”) (from the early 13th century). The transitive verb with the meaning "to salute" is also from the 13th century. The cognate verb heal is already Old English (hǣlan), from Proto-Germanic *hailijaną (“to make healthy, whole, to heal”). Also cognate is whole, from Old English hāl (the spelling with wh- is unetymological, introduced in the 15th century).

From Wiktionary
From Middle English haile, hail, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz (compare West Frisian heil, Low German Hagel, Dutch hagel, German Hagel, Danish hagl). Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos (“pebble”), or from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (“cold”) (compare Old Norse héla (“frost”)).

From Wiktionary
Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Welsh caill (“testicle”), Breton kell (“testicle”), Lithuanian šešėlis (“shade, shadow”), Ancient Greek κάχληξ (káchlēx, “pebble”), Albanian çakëll (“pebble”), Sanskrit शिशिर (śíśira, “cool, cold”).

From Wiktionary
Middle English heilen from (wæs) hæil (be) healthy wassail

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English from Old English hægel, hagol

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