Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Hail?

\Hail\ (h[=a]l), n. [OE. hail, ha[yogh]el, AS. h[ae]gel; akin to D., G., Dan., & Sw. hagel; Icel. hagl; cf. Gr. ka`chlhx pebble.] Small roundish masses of ice precipitated from the clouds, where they are formed by the congelation of vapor. The separate masses or grains are called hailstones. Thunder mixed with hail, Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptian sky. --Milton.
\Hail\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Halled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Halting}.] [OE. hailen, AS. haqalian.] To pour down particles of ice, or frozen vapors.
\Hail\, v. t. To pour forcibly down, as hail. --Shak.
\Hail\, a. Healthy. See {Hale} (the preferable spelling).
\Hail\, v. t. [OE. hailen, heilen, Icel. heil hale, sound, used in greeting. See {Hale} sound.] 1. To call loudly to, or after; to accost; to salute; to address. 2. To name; to designate; to call. And such a son as all men hailed me happy. --Milton.
\Hail\, v. i. 1. To declare, by hailing, the port from which a vessel sails or where she is registered; hence, to sail; to come; -- used with from; as, the steamer hails from New York. 2. To report as one's home or the place from whence one comes; to come; -- with from. [Colloq.] --G. G. Halpine.
\Hail\, interj. [See {Hail}, v. t.] An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting. ``Hail, brave friend.'' --Shak. {All hail}. See in the Vocabulary. {Hail Mary}, a form of prayer made use of in the Roman Catholic Church in invocation of the Virgin. See {Ave Maria}.
\Hail\, n. A wish of health; a salutation; a loud call. ``Their puissant hail.'' --M. Arnold. The angel hail bestowed. --Milton.