hail

CEFRB2

/heɪl/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Small balls of ice that fall from the sky.

  2. 02

    verb

    To call out to someone or greet them.

Examples

  • As a rule, hail falls in the summer.

  • The hail cracked the window.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • [heɪ̯ɫ]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A rapid, intense barrage by a large number of projectiles or other objects.

  2. An occurrence of this type of precipitation; a hailstorm.

  3. Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.

More examples

In context

  • The cloud would hail down furiously within a few minutes.

  • They say it's going to hail tomorrow.

  • He was hailed as a hero.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

When the hero entered the stadium, the crowd began to blank and wave.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English hayle, haile, hail, hawel, haghil, haȝel, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, hagol (“hail”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagl, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz, of uncertain origin. Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos (“pebble”); or alternatively from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (“cold”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hail (“hail”), West Frisian heil (“hail”), Low German Hagel (“hail”), German Hagel (“hail”), Dutch and Swedish hagel (“hail”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Icelandic hagl (“hail”). Compare also Old Norse héla (“frost”). Doublet of haglaz, if the second etymology (“cold”) is correct. Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Ancient Greek...