gale

present singular third person gales · participle present galing · past galed · past gole · participle past galed · participle past gole · participle past galen

1. dialectalintransitiveTo cry; groan; croak.
2. dialectalintransitiveTo talk.
3. dialectaltransitiveTo sing; utter with musical modulations.

plural gales

1. climatologyA 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.

   3 more examples

   Many parts of the boat were damaged in the gale.

   With my mother's permission and blessings, I set off exultantly for Bombay, leaving my wife with a baby of a few months. But on arrival there, friends told my brother that the Indian Ocean was rough in June and July, and as this was my first voyage, I should not be allowed to sail until November. Someone also reported that a steamer had just been sunk in a gale. This made my brother uneasy, and he refused to take the risk of allowing me to sail immediately.

   1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xii

   It's blowing a gale and this holiday destination loses all its appeal in an instant in weather like this.

   2026 January 7, 'Mystery Shopper', “Cornish cream - without the jams?”, in RAIL, number 1052, page 48

2. An outburst, especially of laughter.

   a gale of laughter

   1 more example

   The slightest hint of smugness would have had the nation leaning over our shoulders to blow out the birthday candles with a gale of reproach and disapproval.

   1972, International Association of Seed Crushers, Congress [proceedings]

3. archaicliteraryA light breeze.

   A little gale will soon disperse that cloud.

   c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

   1 more example

   And winds of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanned / From their soft wings.

   1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC

present singular third person gales · participle present galing · participle past galed · past galed

1. nauticalTo sail, or sail fast.

1. A shrub, also called sweet gale or bog myrtle (Myrica gale), that grows on moors and fens.

plural gales

1. archaicA periodic payment, such as is made of a rent or annuity.

   Gale day - the day on which rent or interest is due.

2. The personal mining plot of a freeminer.

   As a rule the free miners do not work their own 'gales,' but dispose of them to capitalists.

   1875, The Sanitary Record, volume 3, page 384

1. A surname.

   Sir Roger Gale MP said the protesters had driven to and parked on a village green in his Herne Bay and Sandwich constituency overnight.

   2026 September 5, Simon Jones, James Buchan, Joshua Askew, “Disruption at Port of Dover due to 'stop the boats' protest”, in BBC News, retrieved 05 Sep 2026

2. A unisex given name.

   But my best friend, Gale Hawthorne, and his family will be depending on today’s haul and I can’t let them down.

   2009, Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire (The Hunger Games), New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Press, →ISBN, page 4

3. A number of places in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in Alexander County, Illinois.
   2. An unincorporated community in Center Township, Hendricks County, Indiana.
   3. An unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia.
   4. A town in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.