gale.
To cry; groan; croak.
Meaning & usage
To cry; groan; croak.
To talk.
To sing; utter with musical modulations.
Where this word comes from
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 *gʰel- (“to shout, scream, charm away”). Cognate with Danish gale (“to crow”), Swedish gala (“to crow”), Icelandic gala (“to sing, chant, crow”), Dutch galm (“echo, sound, noise”). Related to yell.
A very strong wind, more than a breeze, less than a storm; number 7 through to 9 winds on the 12-step Beaufort scale.
It's blowing a gale outside.
Many parts of the boat were damaged in the gale.
An outburst, especially of laughter.
a gale of laughter
A light breeze.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English gale (“a wind, breeze”), possibly from Old English galan, possibly an unknown North Germanic origin, related to Icelandic gola (“a breeze”), Danish gal (“furious, mad”), both from Old Norse gala (“to sing”), and thus ultimately related to the above word (etymology 1).
To sail, or sail fast.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English gale (“a wind, breeze”), possibly from Old English galan, possibly an unknown North Germanic origin, related to Icelandic gola (“a breeze”), Danish gal (“furious, mad”), both from Old Norse gala (“to sing”), and thus ultimately related to the above word (etymology 1).
A shrub, also called sweet gale or bog myrtle (Myrica gale), that grows on moors and fens.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English gaile, gawl, gawwyl, gaȝel, gagel, from Old English gagel, gagelle, gagille, gagolle (“gale; sweet gale”), from Proto-West Germanic *gagul, from Proto-Germanic *gagulaz (“gale; sweet-willow”). Cognate with Scots gaul, gall (“bog-myrtle”), Dutch gagel (“wild myrtle”), German Gagel (“myrtle-bush”), Icelandic gaglviður (“sweet-gale; myrtle”).
A periodic payment, such as is made of a rent or annuity.
Gale day - the day on which rent or interest is due.
The personal mining plot of a freeminer.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English gavel (“rent; tribute”), from Old English gafol.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.