▪ I. † hale, n.1 Obs.
[A parallel form to heal n., ME. hele, and hail n.2, conformed in vowel to the adj., OE. hál.]
Health, well-being, welfare; cure, remedy; = hail n.2, heal n.
| a 1200 Moral Ode 202 in Trin. Coll. Hom. 226 Ac mihte libbe afre-mo a blisse and an hale. c 1200 Vices & Virtues (1888) 29 Ne on wele ne on wauȝhe, ne on hale ne on unhale. c 1205 Lay. 17755 Þat scal be on þin hale. 1596 Spenser Astroph. 103 All heedlesse of his dearest hale. 1795 Burns Poem addressed to Mitchell v, My hale and weel I'll tak a care o't. [But here perh. only a Sc. dial. form of heal n.] |
b. ill hale, var. of ill hail (hail n.2 2), bad luck. In quots. used advb. = Unfortunately, unluckily, disastrously.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 4905 Ful ilhale [Fairf. il haile] did yee þat dede. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 230 Now illa hale was he borne. |
▪ II. † hale, n.2 Obs.
Forms: 1 healh (heale), 1–4 hal, 4–5 hale.
[OE. halh, healh, infl. hale, heale.]
A corner, a nook; a secret place.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xxxv. 245 Forðæm ælc waᵹ bið ᵹebieᵹed twiefeald on ðæm heale. c 1000 Prose Life St. Guthlac xx. 82 Hleonian on ðam hale his cyrcan. a 1100 Anglo-Sax. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 326/9 Angulus, hyrne, oððe heal. a 1250 Owl & Night. 2 Ich was in one sumere dale, In one suthe diȝele hale. c 1315 Shoreham 160 Ac tho hy herde God speke, Wel sone an hal by-gonne threke. a 1327 Pol. Songs (Camden) 150 We beth honted from hale to hurne. c 1450 Myrc 1384 Hast þow do þat synne bale By any wommon þat lay in hale? |
▪ III. † hale, n.3 Obs.
Also 5 halle, 6 hail, hall.
[app. a. OF. hale (13th c. in Littré), mod.F. halle a covered market-place, a. OS. and OHG. halla, an area or space covered over. The word is thus in origin a doublet of hall1, with a different pronunciation and application, due to its French use.]
A place roofed over, but usually open at the sides; a pavilion; a tent; a booth, hut, or other temporary structure for shelter.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9280 In halles and hales bordes leyd. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 222/1 Hale or tente, papilio, scena. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. i. 734 Euery man had plente in hale and in halle. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxlii. (1482) 277 The kyng lete make in al hast a long and a large hous of tymbre the which was callid an hale (and couered with tylles ouer) and it was open al about on both sides and at the endes. 1530 Palsgr. 228/2 Hall a long tent in a felde, tente. 1572 I. B. Let. in Brydges Cens. Lit. VII. 240 (N.) Dangerous diseases..to souldiours by reason of lying upon the ground and uncovered, and lykewyse to horses for lacke of hales. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. (1807–8) III. 81 Certeine Frenchmen..hearing that the English tents and pavillions were a good waie distant from the armie..spoiled the hails, robbed the tents. 1606 Holland Sueton 55 A certaine rate in monie..allowed, For their sumpter-mules, for their tentes and hales. |
b. pl. (as sing.) ? A market-hall [= F. les halles].
| 1541 Aberd. Reg. V. 16 (Jam.) The townis consent to mak a halis to mett the wyttal that hapenis to cum to this burgh to sell. |
▪ IV. hale, n.4 Now rare or Obs.
(heɪl)
Also 6 Sc. haill.
[f. hale v.1, of which sense 1 may be the imperative, used subst. See also haul n.]
1. In hoise and hale, hale and how, exclamations of sailors in hauling something.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xv, Where were many shyppes and maryners noyse with hale and how. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. viii. 111 Towart the left, with mony heis and haill, Socht all our flot. 1867 Morris Jason x. 587 And so drew Argo up, with hale and how, On to the grass. 1890 ― in Eng. Illustr. Mag. July 759 Uprose the hale and how of the mariners. |
b. The act of haling or hauling.
| c 1695 Congreve Taking of Namur (Seager), Uprooting hills with most tremendous hale. |
2. A haul (of fish).
| 1751 R. Paltock P. Wilkins xxxiv. (1883) 92/2 It being a large hale, and a shelving bank, I could not lift it. |
▪ V. hale, n.5 Obs. exc. dial.
Also 7 haile.
[app. a. ON. hali, Da. hale tail: cf. plough-tail.]
1. pl. The two handles of a plough or wheel-barrow.
| 1611 Cotgr., Le manche d'une charrue, a Plough-tayle, or handle; the Plough-hale. 1613 Markham Eng. Husbandman i. i. vi. (1635) 36 If your Plough-irons..will not bite on the earth..it is a signe that you hang too heavie on the Plough hales. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 190 For the Plough-handles, some call them Stilts, and some Hales, and some Staves. 1725 in Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Plough. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Hales, the handles or ends of the plough-stilts: usually in the compound form Plough-hales. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Barrow-hale, the handle of a wheel-barrow. |
† 2. A pot-hook. Obs.
| 1674 Ray S.& E.C. Words 68 A Hale: (Suff.) i.e. a trammel in the Essex dialect. |
▪ VI. † hale, n.6 Obs. rare.
= halo.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 222/1 Hale, or cyrcle a-bowte þe mone, halo. |
▪ VII. hale, a. (adv.)
(heɪl)
Forms: α. Eng. 1 hál, 2–4 hal, 3- hale (4 halle, ale, hele, 8–9 heal, north. dial. heale, heeal, heyel, yell). β. Sc. 4 halle, 4- hale, 5- hail (5 hayle, 5–6 haile, 5- haill, 6 heale, hele, 6–8 heal).
[The northern dial. repr. of OE. hál, which became in south and midl. dial. hôl, hool, hole, whole, but remained in the north hâl, hale, in which form it has been taken over in modern times into the literary language in sense 3.
In Scotch from 15th c., long ā was spelt ay, ai; hence, the later Sc. forms hayl, hail, haill, for earlier hale, OE. hál, must be distinguished from original north Eng. hail, in same sense, derived from Norse heill. Heal(e is a modern Sc. repr. of the closer sound (hiːəl, hɪəl) into which hale has now passed, and must be distinguished from Eng. heal (hiːl), ME. hele.]
A. adj. I. 1. Free from injury; safe, sound, unhurt. Now only Sc. and north. dial.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. x. 22 Se þurh-wunaþ oð ende, se byþ hal. c 1200 Ormin 14818 Godess follc all hal & sund Comm..to lande. a 1300 Cursor M. 24888 If þou will hale Cum o þis scip to land. 1375 Barbour Bruce (MS. 1489) iii. 92 The King..eschapyt haile and fer. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvii. 79 It kepez þe lymmes of a man hale. 1513 Douglas æneis (1553) ix. iv. 102 So hele and fere [ed. Small hail and feyr] mote sauf me Jupiter. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 74 It wald mak ony haill hairt sair. 1597 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 897 Quhyle my heart is heal [rime prevail]. 1786 Burns Ep. to Major Logan iii, Hale be your heart, hale be your fiddle. 1802 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 35 O heale be thy heart! my auld cronie. |
2. a. Free from disease, healthy, in good health, well; recovered from disease, healed, ‘whole’. Now Sc. and north. dial.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 74 Þonne bið se man hal on þreora nihte fyrste. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 29 Ane wunde..þet ne mei beon longe hwile hal. a 1300 Cursor M. 13106 Messels er hale, cripels gas right. c 1375 (15th c. MS.) Sc. Leg. Saints Prol. 125 Of all sekness, and of all bale, In name of Ihesu þai mad haile. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 3638 [He] had made diuerse hale and fere. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 126 Ane haill mannis estait, In temperat warmnes, nother to cald nor hait. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 107 My seely sheepe..bene hale enough, I trowe. 1597 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 1474 Our full intent is now To haif ȝe hale. 1792 Burns Duncan Gray iv, Meg grew sick—as he grew heal. 1871 G. Macdonald Gospel Women, in Wks. Fancy & Imag. II. 135 Sickness may be more hale than health. |
† b. fig. Free from what is injurious; sound, wholesome. Obs.
| c 1300 Cursor M. 24650 (Edinb.) Þi suet sun sa halle [v.r. hale] of hiht. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 693 Hit n'is non hale To leue stepmoderes tale. c 1475 Babees Bk. 101 Latte ay youre chere be lowly, blythe, and hale. 1563 Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. xxxii. Wks. 1888 I. 97 Preist..that may instruct the peple be hale and syncere doctrine. |
3. Free from infirmity; sound in constitution; robust, vigorous. (The current literary sense: now most freq. of old persons.) Often in phr. hale and hearty.
(Not exactly the same as any northern dialect use, and perh. originating in Spenser's use: cf. sense 2, quot. 1579.)
| 1734 Jarvis Let. to Swift 24 Nov. in S.'s Lett. (1766) II. 207 Finding my old friend..so hale at 83–4. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 401 The soundest halest constitution may..catch an infection. 1823 Scott Peveril i, Then came the strong hale voice of the huntsman soldier with its usual greeting. 1824 Dibdin Litr. Comp. 530 A hale, active, and comprehensive mind. 1860 Leisure Hour 174/2 As hale and as hearty..as ever. 1863 Good Words IV. 295/2 He..was hale and hearty though upwards of a hundred years old. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xxvi. 541 A hale hearty old age. 1899 Captain I. 124/2 Dr. Grace is close on fifty-one, hale and hearty. 1903 T. Hardy Dynasts I. i. i. 14 We be the King's men, hale and hearty, Marching to meet one Buona⁓party. 1928 A. B. Callow Food & Health 7 In the past many people have been perfectly hale and hearty without having any clear ideas about the science of nutrition. |
II. The northern form of whole, in its current senses.
4. Of things material: Whole, entire, unbroken, undivided; undecayed.
| c 1200 Ormin 18512 All hal and unntodæledd. a 1225 Juliana 31 Sein iuhan..ase hal com up þrof; as he wes hal meiden. a 1300 Cursor M. 19313 We find..þe dors sperd, þe walles hale. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6601 Þai fand him all hale liggand. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. (1822) 96 Ane hede of ane man, with visage hale, but ony corruptioun. 1786 Burns Scotch Drink xxi, Hale breeks. |
5. Of things immaterial, time, numbers, etc.: Whole, entire, complete; with no part wanting.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 419 [Þai] suld be of a numbre hale. Ibid. 9262 Fra adam þa ald to crist es tald Sexti hale generacions. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3933 Þe space of alle ane hale yhere. 1508 Dunbar Twa Mariit Wemen 386 Ane hail ȝear. 1513 Douglas æneis (1553) vii. ix. 105 With hale [ed. Small haill] routis Ascaneus to reskew. 1802 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 34 Wad dance for a heale winter neet. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Hyel, Hale, whole. |
6. a. the hale, the whole, all the; also with possesives, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 6420 Had godds folk þe hale maistri. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 274 The halle condicioun off a threll. a 1400–50 Alexander 441 Halden heuydman of all þe hale werde. 1558 Q. Kennedy Compend. Tractive in Wodr. Soc. Misc. 98 Puttande my heale confidence in God onelie. 1562 Winȝet Cert. Tractates iii. Wks. 1888 I. 26 The haill Kirk of God. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 6 The laird.., his lady, and haill household. 1816 Scott Antiq. xv, Him that the hale town kens naething about. 1863 Tyneside Songs 25 Aw elways gan The yell hog or nyen. |
b. pl. The whole of the, all the.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2992 And cald his men be for him hale. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 357 Thai lands hayle than was his heretage. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 10 Thair victuallis haill were consumit aw. 1557–75 Diurn. Occurr. (Bannatyne) 62 The haill lordis past to the tolbuith. 1582–88 Hist. Jas, VI, The haill subiects of this realme. |
† 7. All. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13303 (Cotton MS.) Tuelue þai war to tell in tale, Quen þat þai war to-gedir hale. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Thomas 22 Quhen þu hale ynd has to me Conuertyt. |
8. Sole.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Mathias 137 He hyme mad Hale kepare of al þe thinge. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 140 Protector haile he maid hym of Scotland. 1578–1600 Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 153 Thy helpe and haill succour. |
9. Possessing full rights as a citizen; not a ‘broken man’ (broken 9).
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 80 He is oblissed onely to enter his persone, or bodie, gif he be ane haill man, in the court. |
B. adv. Wholly, entirely. Sc. and north. dial.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Egipciane 102 To þe varld ded vare þai hayle. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 9 Contrar haile thair will. 1508 Dunbar Twa Mariit Wemen 325 Quhen I the cure had all clene and him ourcummyn haill. 1585 Jas. I. Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 43 Ane hors, when he is barded haile. 1862 A. Hislop Prov. Scot. 32 Better ae e'e than hail blind. |
▪ VIII. hale, v.1
(heɪl)
Forms: 3- hale; also 4 halie, halye, (halle), 4–6 hayl(e, 5–7 haile, (6 haale), 6–7 (8–9 in sense 4 b) hail. See also haul.
[a. OF. haler, in sense 1 (12th c. in Littré), a. OFrankish hâlon = OHG. halôn, holôn, modG. holen, to fetch, etc., OS. halôn, MDu. and Du. halen, to fetch, draw, haul, OFris. halia, EFris. halen, to draw, pull, haul.
Icel. and Sw. hala, Da. hale (on the ground of which the OFr. word has been erroneously assumed to be from Norse) are late adoptions from LG. (the Icel. perh. from Eng.).]
1. trans. To draw or pull. † a. Formerly in gen. sense, and in various spec. uses now obs. or arch.: e.g. to draw up, hoist, set (a sail); to take a ‘pull’ at, toss off (liquor); to pull or tear asunder or in pieces; to contract, cause to shrink; to draw back (an arrow) on the string. (= draw v. in various senses.)
| 13.. K. Alis. 992 They setten mast, and halen saile. 13.. E. E. Allit. P. B. 1520 He haled of þe cuppe. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12061 Bowlyne on bouspret to sette and hale. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. ii. (1495) 104 The fumositees in the stomak come to the brayne and..drawe and hale the skynnes of the brayne, and brede ache in the same skynnes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 223/1 Halyn, or drawyn, traho. 1513 Douglas æneis v. ix. 36 Mynestheus..Onto the heid has halit wp on hie, Baith arrow and ene etland at the merk. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 40 Hail al and ane . hail hym vp til vs..The ankyr vas halit vp abufe the vattir. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 218 The place that's haled with the crampe. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. ii. i. (1651) 450 Thou shalt be haled in pieces with..some passion or other. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies i. xix. (1658) 209 A..pin of wood, over which they use to hale their lace when they wind it. 1740 Nelson Wond. Nat. Displayed iii. xxvi. 284 Fastened to a thick Rope, which is haled in by an Engine. 1842 Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 63 The rope that haled the buckets from the well. |
b. To draw or pull along, or from one place to another, esp. with force or violence; to drag, tug. Now superseded in ordinary speech by haul.
| c 1205 Lay. 16712 Toward Hengest he leop..and igrap hine bi þan toppe, & hine æfter him halede. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. viii. 95 Dobest..bereth a bisschopes crosse, Is hoked on þat one ende, to halie men fro helle [1393 C. xi. 93 And halye with þe hoked ende ille men to goode]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 363 b/2 She remembryd how Jhesus..was..haled forth and mocked. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 230 He..drew and haled the rest out of the doores, by the haire and heeles. 1611 Bible Acts viii. 3 Saul..hailing men and women, committed them to prison. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. xix. 153 As one hal'd to execution. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. v, Some score or two..are indignantly haled to prison. 1873 Smiles Huguenots Fr. i. xii. (1881) 244 They were haled before the magistrates, fined and imprisoned. |
2. fig. To constrain, or draw forcibly to, into, or out of a course of action, feeling, condition, etc.; to bring in violently, drag in.
| 1377–93 [see 1 b]. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 54 [It] haleth me into a certaine hope of perpetual renowne. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen ii. 7 They..hale and force them by their commands and threats. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xliv. 347 Texts..haled to their purposes by force of wit. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 493 The Land hales the wind. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. xxxvi. 216 Inferences, consequences, strained deductions..haled in to tease me. 1869 Friswell Ess. Eng. Writers x. 139 Garrick haled on one hand by Tragedy and on the other by Comedy. |
† b. To harry, molest. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. 579/1, I harye, or mysse entreate or hale one. 1641 Milton Reform. ii. (1851) 67 To let them still hale us, and worrey us with their band-dogs, and Pursivants. 1847–78 Halliwell, Hale..to vex, or trouble; to worry. |
3. absol. or intr. To pull, tug.
| 1423 Jas. 1 Kingis Q. clxix, Thou art to feble of thy-self..to clymbe[n] or to hale Withoutin help. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 276 Hale on apace..and merrily hoise up your sails. c 1580 Drake in The World Encompassed, etc. (Hakl. Soc. 1854) App. iv. 213, I must have a gentleman to hayle and draw with the mariner, and the maryner with the gentleman. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus iii. 3 The Minister may hale and pull, but vnlesse the Father draw, none come to the Sonne. 1879 Stevenson Trav. Cevennes, A yoke of..stolid oxen were patiently haling at the plough. |
† 4. intr. To move along as if drawn or pulled; to move with force or impetus, hasten, rush; spec. of a ship, to proceed before the wind with sails set, to sail (cf. 1 a). Also fig. Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 136 Þer hales in at þe halle dor an aghlich mayster. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12286 He..halit on full hard vnto the hegh Sea. 1667 Lond. Gaz. No. 221/1 Several other ships are haleing out of this Harbor. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. lii. 256 A more convenient Place..for the Man of War to hale ashore. Ibid. 257 That Day that his Ship haled off. |
b. To flow, run down in a large stream. Obs. exc. Sc. and north. dial. (In later use written hail.)
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 125 Doun after a strem þat dryȝly halez. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 284 From grapis blake a myghty wyn wole hale. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 22, I wept and I wayled, The tearys downe hayled. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. (1822) 101 The teris began fast to hale owre hir chekis. a 1783 Willy o' Douglass-dale xiv. in Child Ballads iv ci, An the tears came hailing down. a 1835 Motherwell in Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. i. 101 Het tears are hailin' ower your cheek, And hailin' ower your chin. Mod. Sc. The sweat was just hailin' off me. |
† c. transf. To project, extend, reach. Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 788 A ful huge heȝt hit [the wall] haled vpon lofte. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2077 The hede [of the spear] haylede owtt behynde ane halfe fote large. |
▪ IX. † hale, v.2 Obs.
[Either f. hale a., or a variant of heal v. assimilated to hale a.]
trans. To make hale or whole; to heal.
| c 1200 Vices & Virtues 71 Ðat þu cunne hes halen. a 1300 Cursor M. 14157 (Gött.) Þai troud þat he moght þair broþer hale of all his soght. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 7 Fiue woundes That ere not ȝit haled, ne salle be many stoundes. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xcvii. 2 Þa þat ere halyd [v.r. holed] in trouth & luf. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 789 In name of Christe thay halit mony hounder, Rasyng the dede, and purgeing the possest. |
▪ X. † hale, int. Obs.
[app. the same as MHG. hale, OHG. halo, imperative of halôn, holôn, holen to fetch, of which emphatic forms halâ, holâ were esp. used for hailing a ferry-man: see Hildebrand in Zeitsch. f. d. Deutschen Unterricht III. 393.]
A cry to call attention.
[See also E.E. Poems (1862) 62.]
| c 1290 St. Christopher 84 in S. Eng. Leg. 273 A niȝt in þe oþur half of þe watur, a uoiz þare cam and gradde ‘Hale, hale’ to seint Cristofre, þat he him þare-ouer ladde. |
▪ XI. hale
obs. f. hail v.2 and v.3; var. hele v.1