beal

B3E1A1L1
US, UK/biːl/

noun

A small inflammatory tumor; pustule.

Less commonScrabble 6

Meanings

beal1

nounbeal (plural beals)

plural beals

  1. dialectalobsoleteA small inflammatory tumor; pustule.

beal2

verbbeal (third-person singular simple present beals, present participle bealing, simple past and past participle bealed)

present singular third person beals · participle present bealing · participle past bealed · past bealed

  1. PennsylvaniaScotlandWesterndialectalTo gather matter; swell; come to a head, as a pimple; fester; suppurate.

beal3

verbbeal (third-person singular simple present beals, present participle bealing, simple past and past participle bealed)

present singular third person beals · participle present bealing · participle past bealed · past bealed

  1. UKdialectalTo bellow, roar, or shout.

Beal4

proper noun

alternative Beall

  1. A surname from Anglo-Norman.

    Dr. Weber and her colleagues are the latest custodians of the Beal seed viability experiment: a multicentury attempt to figure out how long seeds can lie dormant in the soil without losing their ability to germinate.

    2021 April 21, Cara Giaimo, “One of the World’s Oldest Science Experiments Comes Up From the Dirt”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2021
  2. A small village in Kyloe parish, Northumberland, England (OS grid ref NU0642).
  3. A village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, previously in Selby district (OS grid ref SE5325).

Origin

beal · noun

  1. Proto-Germanic*būlijǭ“swelling”
  2. Proto-West Germanic*būlijā
  3. Old Englishbȳle“boil, carbuncle, bile”
  4. Middle Englishbeel
  5. Englishbeal

From Middle English beel, bele, from Old English bȳle (“boil, carbuncle, bile”), from Proto-West Germanic *būlijā, from Proto-Germanic *būlijǭ (“swelling”), from *būlǭ (“swelling, bump, boil”). More at boil.

Full word history & related roots →

beal · verb

  1. Middle Englishbelen
  2. Englishbeal

From Middle English belen, from bele (see above).

Full word history & related roots →

beal · verb

  1. Old Norsebelja“to bellow, roar”
  2. Middle Englishbelien
  3. Englishbeal

From Middle English belien, from Old Norse belja (“to bellow, roar”).

Full word history & related roots →

Beal · proper noun

  1. Old Englishbeo“bee”
  2. EnglishBeal

Named after several places in England, from Old English beo (“bee”) + hyll (“hill”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with beal

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

beal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beal

MLA

“beal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beal. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beal,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beal.

Source: beal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.