hale

comparative haler · superlative halest

1. datedSound, entire, healthy; robust, not impaired.

   His stomach too begins to fail: / Last year we thought him strong and hale; / But now he's quite another thing: / I wish he may hold out till spring!

   1731 November (date written; published 1739), Jonathan Swift, “On the Death of Dr. Swift”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 126

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   "Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn." / "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"

   1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC

   Antonyms: unhale

1. archaicuncountableHealth, welfare.

   Then let them vale a bonet of their proud ſayle, / And of their taunting toies reſt with il hayle.

   c. 1515–1516 (date written; published 1568), John Skelton, “Against Venemous Tongues Enpoysoned with Sclaunder and False Detractions, &c.”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC

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   Eftſoones all heedleſſe of his deareſt hale, / Full greedily into the heard he thruſt: / To ſlaughter them, and vvorke their finall bale, / Leaſt that his toyle ſhould of their troups be bruſt.

   1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “Astrophel. A Pastoral Elegie vpon the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney.”, in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature F2, recto

present singular third person hales · participle present haling · participle past haled · past haled

1. transitiveTo drag or pull, especially forcibly.

   By night we dragg'd her to the college tower / From her warm bed, and up the corkscrew stair / With hand and rope we haled the groaning sow, / And on the leads we kept her till she pigg'd.

   1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Walking to the Mail”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 51

   5 more examples

   For I had beene vilely hurried and haled by those poore men, which had taken the paines to carry me upon their armes a long and wearysome way, and to say truth, they had all beene wearied twice or thrice over, and were faine to shift severall times.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 6, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

   A ſpacious Breach we make, and Troy’s proud Wall / Built by the Gods, by our own hands doth fall; / Thus, all their help to their own Ruin give, / Some draw with Cords, and ſome the Monſter drive / With Rolls and Leavers, thus our Works it climbs, / Big with our Fate, the Youth with Songs and Rhimes, / Some dance, ſome hale the Rope; at laſt let down / It enters with a thund’ring Noiſe the Town.

   1636, John Denham, “The Destruction of Troy, an Essay on the Second Book of Virgil’s Æneis. Written in the Year 1636.”, in Poems and Translations; with the Sophy, a Tragedy, 5th edition, London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 38

   The wingless, crawling hours, one among whom / —As some dark Priest hales the reluctant victim— / Shall drag thee, cruel King, to kiss the blood / From these pale feet, which then might trample thee / If they disdained not such a prostrate slave.

   1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 21

   He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. [...] But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again her partner was haled off with a frightened look to the royal circle, [...]

   1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9

   The Wanderlust has lured me to the seven lonely seas, / Has dumped me on the tailing-piles of dearth; / The Wanderlust has haled me from the morris chairs of ease, / Has hurled me to the ends of all the earth.

   1912, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Wanderlust”, in Rhymes of a Rolling Stone, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 123

1. A topographic surname from Old English.
2. A place name:
   1. A village and civil parish in Halton borough, Cheshire (OS grid ref SJ4682).
   2. A hamlet in Beetham parish, Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, previously in South Lakeland district (OS grid ref SD5078).
   3. A village in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester (OS grid ref SJ7786).
   4. A small village and civil parish in New Forest district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU1818).
   5. A hamlet south of Gillingham, Medway borough, Kent (OS grid ref TQ7765).
   6. A hamlet in Cucklington parish, Somerset, previously in South Somerset district (OS grid ref ST7527).
   7. A suburban village in the north of Farnham parish, Waverley district, Surrey (OS grid ref SU8448).
   8. An unincorporated community in Yuma County, Colorado.
   9. An unincorporated community in Jones County, Iowa.
   10. An unincorporated community in Salt Creek Township, Chautauqua County, Kansas.
   11. An unincorporated community in Plainfield Township, Iosco County, Michigan.
   12. A neighbourhood in southern Minneapolis, Minnesota.
   13. A minor city in Carroll County, Missouri.
   14. A ghost town in Carbon County, Utah.
   15. A town and unincorporated community therein, in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.
   16. A locality on the Algoma Central Railway, Algoma District, Ontario, Canada.
   17. A town in Korogwe District, eastern Tanzania.
   18. A locality in the south of the Northern Territory, Australia, named after the Hale River.

1. abbreviationacronymnot comparableaeronauticsAcronym of high-altitude long-endurance