Definition of "hail"

hail¹

/heɪl/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural hails
1. (meteorology, uncountable) Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.
2. (meteorology, countable) An occurrence of this type of precipitation; a hailstorm.
3. (countable, by extension) A rapid, intense barrage by a large number of projectiles or other objects.
  Quotations
  Their lack of good intelligence also meant that they vastly overestimated the size of their foes for far too long, hails of armor-piercing shells doing comparatively little damage compared to the high explosive that they should have been using.
  2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 40:01 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎, archived from the original on 3 November 2022

hail²

/heɪl/

verb
third-person singular simple present hails, present participle hailing, simple past and past participle hailed
1. (impersonal) For hailstones to fall from the sky.
2. (intransitive) To send or release hail.
3. To pour down in rapid succession.

hail³

/heɪl/

adjective
comparative hailer, superlative hailest
1. (obsolete) Healthy, whole, safe.
verb
third-person singular simple present hails, present participle hailing, simple past and past participle hailed
1. (transitive) To greet; give salutation to; salute.
  Quotations
  […] Farewel happy Fields / Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail / Infernal world, and thou profoundeſt Hell / Receive they new Poſſeſſor: […]
  1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 249–252
2. (transitive) To name; to designate; to call.
  Quotations
  Such a Son as all men hail'd me happy;
  1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 28
3. (transitive) To call out loudly in order to gain the attention of.
  Quotations
  'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket / And the other one is hailin' a taxi cab
  1995, Alanis Morissette (lyrics and music), “Hand In My Pocket”, in Jagged Little Pill
  1. (transitive, by extension, UK, Australia) To indicate, from a designated stop or otherwise, to the driver of a public transport vehicle that one wishes to board and travel on the vehicle, usually using hand signals such as waving.
4. (transitive) To signal in order to initiate communication with.
5. (transitive) In the game of uppies and downies, to throw (the ball) repeatedly up and down at the goal location, in order to score a point.
interjection
1. (archaic or poetic) An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
  Quotations
  Hail, brave friend.
  c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]

Definition of "hail"

hail1

noun

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hail2

verb

hail3

adjective

verb

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interjection

Quotations

hail¹

hail²

hail³