Meanings
hele1
- obsoleteObsolete form of heal.
hele2
present singular third person heles · participle present heling · participle past heled · past heled · alternative heal · alternative heel
- archaicdialectalrareTo hide, conceal, and keep secret, especially for a secret society (such as the masons).
… the lion is in most gentleness and nobility, when his neck and shoulders be heled with hair and main.
1893, Robert Steele, Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus, Online edition, Gutenberg Project, published 20042 more examples
Men could look up and understand something of the star-Spangled arch of blue, but the reversed arch or crypt beneath was to the eyes a flesh 'heled, concealed, and never revealed,' […]
1921, The Builder: A Journal for the Masonic Student, page 208The second is concerned more especially with the obligation of the Neophyte Grade in which the Candidate is pledged to hele, conceal and never reveal the secret art and hidden mysteries of Masonry.
2019, William Harvey, Albert G. Mackey, Arthur Edward Waite, Symbolism and Discourses on the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason Blue Lodge Degrees, page 36 - especiallyrareTo cover or conceal (a seedling, plant, roots, etc).
[…] and for this reason had better be taken up and heled in, in a safe place, where there is no danger from standing water.
1881, Report of the New Hampshire Deptartment of Agriculture, page 2523 more examples
At the time of earthing the potatoes by the double mould-plough, turnip seed is sown, and thus "heled;" the turnips arrive at maturity before the potatoes, and are pulled without damage to them.
1861, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, page 275Take your vines, in a pail with water, or wrapped in a wet cloth, from the place where they were heled-in,* to the holes; […] *On receiving your vines from the nursery, they should be taken out of the box, without delay, and heled-in, which is done as follows: In a dry and well protected situation, a trench is made in the soil […] The plants are then set thickly together in the trench […] and soil taken from [another trench] is thrown into the first, covering the roots carefully,
1895, Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of American Grape Vines, Bushberg, Mo.: Bush & Son & Meissner firm of vinegrowers, page 43As soon as received the plants should be unpacked and if they can not be planted at once they should be "heled in" i. e., placed in a trench and thoroughly watered.
1913 May, Nebraska Horticulture, page 8
Hele3
- A number of places in the West Country of England:
- A hamlet in Bude-Stratton parish, Cornwall (OS grid ref SS2104).
- A small village in Ilfracombe parish, North Devon district, Devon (OS grid ref SS5347)
- A hamlet in Ashburton parish, Teignbridge district, Devon (SX7470).
- A hamlet in St Giles on the Heath parish, Torridge district, Devon, on the border with Cornwall (OS grid ref SX3391).
- A hamlet in Bradford-on-Tone parish, Somerset, previously in Somerset West and Taunton district (OS grid ref ST1824).
HELE4
- PhilippinesabbreviationinitialismuncountableeducationInitialism of home economics and livelihood education.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱel-“to hide”
- Proto-Germanic*haljaną“to hull, conceal”
- Proto-Germanic*helaną“to conceal, stash, receive stolen goods”
- Proto-West Germanic*helan
- Old Englishhelan“to conceal, cover, hide”
- Middle Englishhelen
- Englishhele
From Middle English helen, helien, from Old English helan (“to conceal, cover, hide”, strong verb) and helian (“to conceal, cover, hide”, weak verb), from Proto-West Germanic *helan, from Proto-Germanic *helaną (“to conceal, stash, receive stolen goods”) and Proto-Germanic *haljaną (“to hull, conceal”); both from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide”). Cognate with Scots heal (“to cover, hide, conceal”), Saterland Frisian hela (“to conceal”), Dutch helen (“to conceal”), German hehlen (“to deal in stolen or illegal goods”), Swedish häla (“hide”) and hälare (“fence, peddler of stolen goods”), as well as with helmet and Latin cēlō (“conceal”). Related to hole, hull.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hele
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Cite this entry
hele. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hele
“hele.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hele. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hele,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hele.
Source: hele on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.