▪ I. gal
var. of cal.
| 1808 Polwhele Cornish-Eng. Voc., Gal, rust. 1849 Weale Dict. Terms., Gal, in Cornish, rusty iron ore. 1875 [see cal]. |
▪ II. gal
obs. f. gall; var. gole Obs., luxurious.
▪ III. gal1
(gæl)
vulgar or dial. pronunciation of girl.
| 1795 B. Dearborn Columbian Gram. 135 Improprieties, commonly called Vulgarisms, [include]..Gal for girl. 1824 J. Wight Mornings at Bow St. 132 Gal—cockney for girl. 1837 Dickens Pickw. iv. 39 My daughters, gentlemen—my gals these are. Ibid. xxxii. 343 You are a nice gal and nothin' but it. 1842 J. W. Orderson Creol. xv. 173 You should speak to the gal first. a 1845 Hood Love has not Eyes v, He'll swear that in her dancing she cuts all others out, Though like a Gal that's galvanised, she throws her legs about. |
▪ IV. gal2
(gæl)
[f. the name Galileo: see Galilean a.2]
A unit used in expressing the value of the acceleration due to gravity and equal to one centimetre per second per second.
| 1914 O. Klotz in Nature 13 Aug. 611/2 So long ago as 1909 Wiechert used the term ‘gal’ in the report for the Göttingen earthquake station for that unit, being the first syllable of Galileo... Others, as well as myself, have used ‘gal’ or rather ‘milligal’ in analyses of earthquakes... Dyne is the unit of force, gal the unit of acceleration. 1935 Nature 23 Mar. 471/1 A particular case as example in which an error of 0.01 gal in ‘g’ would lead to an error of 40 ft. in geoidal elevation. 1937 Geogr. Jrnl. LXXXIX. 92 Unfortunately the old Helmert (1901) is used instead of the international formula adopted at Stockholm in 1930, in which the equatorial value of ‘g’ is greater by 0.019 gals (= cm. per sec. per sec.). 1955 Sci. Amer. Sept. 165/3 Painstaking pendulum measurements have established the value of gravity as 981.274 gal. 1971 Geophysical Jrnl. XXII. 449 With the general adoption of the International System of Units..the c.g.s. unit of acceleration, the gal (or Gal), is doomed to obsolescence. |