GALE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Gale

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noun

Gale n.

A strong current of air; a wind between a stiff breeze and a hurricane. The most violent gales are called tempests. Note: Gales have a velocity of from about eighteen ("moderate") to about eighty ("very heavy") miles an our.

A moderate current of air; a breeze. "A little gale will soon disperse that cloud." "And winds of gentlest gale Arabian odors fanned From their soft wings."

A state of excitement, passion, or hilarity. "The ladies, laughing heartily, were fast getting into what, in New England, is sometimes called a gale."

Topgallant gale (Naut.), one in which a ship may carry her topgallant sails.

Gale n. A song or story. (Obs.)

Gale n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Myrica, growing in wet places, and strongly resembling the bayberry. The sweet gale (Myrica Gale) is found both in Europe and in America.

Gale n. The payment of a rent or annuity. (Eng.)

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

verb

Gale v. i. (Naut.) To sale, or sail fast.

Gale v. i. To sing. (Obs.) "Can he cry and gale."

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Etymology of 'Gale'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Gale" Quotes from Famous Books

... Pulpit in my Mind A Temple, and a Teacher I did find, With a large Text to comment on. No Ear, But Eys them selvs were all the Hearers there. And evry Stone, and Evry Star a Tongue, And evry Gale of Wind a ...

— Man or Matter • Ernst Lehrs

... limitation. Will it reach far in the air? In vacuum it should have an infinite range—in the atmosphere all the molecules of the air will be affected, and it will cause a terrific blast of icy wind, a gale at temperatures far below zero! This will be even ...

— The Black Star Passes • John W Campbell

... sitting with that 'just-break-the-news-to mother' expression of yours, and paying no more heed to my cheerful brand of conversation than if I had been a measly four-flusher. You don't eat more than a sick sparrow, and often you don't bat an eye all night. You're looking worse than the devil in a gale of wind. You've lost your grip, my boy. You don't care whether school keeps or not. In fact, if it wasn't for your folks, you'd as lief take a short ...

— The Trail of '98 - A Northland Romance • Robert W. Service

... morning, about five, the first brightness called me. I rose and turned to the east, not for my devotions, but for air. The night had been very still. The little private gale that blew every evening in our canyon, for ten minutes or perhaps a quarter of an hour, had swiftly blown itself out; in the hours that followed, not a sigh of wind had shaken the treetops; and our barrack, for all its breaches, was less fresh that morning than of wont. But I had no sooner reached ...

— The Sea Fogs • Robert Louis Stevenson

... so bright, In robes de nuit with tapers lit, All sweetly sang "good night." Good night, I cried; why, how is this; Things are then what they seem, And these sweet picture-paintings here Have not been all a dream? For there's our doctor's pleasant smile, There the kind brothers Gale, And there the little happy group Who tableaw'd each sweet tale. There Arnold as a southern belle, Who'd made much fun to-night, There all the guests of Springbank too, Applauding with their might. Better than fiction, ...

— Home Lyrics • Hannah. S. Battersby

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