wale

• IPA^(key): /ˈweɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophones: wail, whale (in accent with the whine–wine merger)

The noun is from Middle English wāle (“planking, welt”), from Old English walu (“ridge, bank; rib, comb (of helmet); metal ridge on top of helmet; weal, mark of a blow”), from Proto-Germanic *waluz (“stick, root”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”). Akin to Low German wāle; Old Norse vala (“knuckle”). The verb is from late Middle English wālen, from the noun.

wale (plural wales)

1. A ridge or low barrier.
2. A raised rib in knit goods or fabric, especially corduroy. (As opposed to course).
   • 2008, Mary Lisa Gavenas, The Fairchild Encyclopedia of Menswear, page 99:

     The fabric may be further described according to the number of wales per inch: Corduroy known as fine wale, pin-wale, or needle wale has very thin wales (usually twelve or more per inch, i.e., the width of a pin), while wide wale corduroy has thicker wales (usually six or fewer per inch).

3. The texture of a piece of fabric.
   • 1892, “Family Fashions and Fancies”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 14, page 85:

     Crepon cloths, with their heavy crape-like wale, are a noteworthy part of the season's importations.

4. (nautical) A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship. (See gunwale, chainwale)
   • 1863, Andrew Murray, Ship-building in Iron and Wood, page 93:

     The strakes between the several ranges of ports, beginning from under the upper-deck ports of a three-decked ship in the royal navy, are called the channel wale, the middle wale, and the main wale.

5. A horizontal timber used for supporting or retaining earth.
   • 1889 February 23, Architecture and Building: A Journal of Investment and Construction, volume 10, page 63:

     A few feet below the first wale another timber is inserted, likewise secured by struts.

6. A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

7. A ridge on the outside of a horse collar.
   • 1976, Ralph Whitlock, Gentle giants: the past, present and future of the heavy horse, page 133:

     The wale is shaped to the size of the horse's neck, and then sewn together, with a flap, known as the 'barge', left free along one side. To this 'barge' the body of the collar is sewn.

8. A ridge or streak produced on skin by a cane or whip.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

   • 1854, S. W. Koelle, African Native Literature, Or Proverbs, Tales, Fables and Historical in the Kanuri Or Bornu Language:

     When the rat had looked at the toad's whole body, and not seen any wale of a stick, he said to the toad, "Brother toad, I have looked at thy whole body, and not seen any wale of a stick: thou art right."

   • 2018, Seabury Quinn, The Dark Angel: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Three:

     I ran to her, and when I reached her I saw across the white skin of her shoulders the distinct wale of a whip.

• waling

wale (third-person singular simple present wales, present participle waling, simple past and past participle waled)

1. To strike the skin in such a way as to produce a wale or welt.
   • 1832, Owen Felltham, Resolves, Divine, Moral, Political:

     Would suffer his lazy rider to bestride his patie: back, with his hands and whip to wale his flesh, and with his heels to dig into his hungry bowels?

   • 2002, Hal Rothman, Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century:

     When faced with an adulthood that offered few options, grinding poverty and marriage to a man who drank too much and came home to wale on his own family or...no beatings.

2. To give a surface a texture of wales or welts.

• wale on
• whale
• weal
• wheal

From Middle English wale, wal, from Old Norse val (“choice”), from Proto-Germanic *walą, *walō (“desire, choice”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, want”). Akin to Old Norse velja (“to choose”), Old High German wala "choice" (German Wahl "choice"), Old English willan (“to want”). More at will.

wale (plural wales)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Something selected as being the best, preference; choice.

wale (third-person singular simple present wales, present participle waling, simple past and past participle waled)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) To choose, select.

• wail (obsolete)

• wale at OneLook Dictionary Search
• wale in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• alew, e-law, lawe, weal

wale

1. pig

• 2009 (originally 1968), Douglas Meland, Doris Meland, Fulniô (Yahthe) Syntax Structure: Preliminary Version, Associação Internacional de Linguística - SIL Brasil, page 19.

wale

1. phlegm
2. saliva

wale

1. Used to modify the preceding word only, just, alone; quite, very; simply, for free, without reason

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaːlə/

wāle

1. Alternative form of wel

From Old English wealh, from Proto-Germanic *walhaz.

• wælh

• IPA^(key): /waːl/

wale

1. (rare) An outsider; a guest; one from an unfamiliar land.
2. (rare) A thrall; a hireling.

• Wales
• Walsch
• walmore
• walnot
• walwort

• “wāle (n.(3))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-10.

From Old English walu, from Proto-Germanic *waluz.

• walle, wala

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaːl(ə)/

wale (plural wales)

1. A wooden board used for creating the exterior of a vessel; planking.
2. (rare) A welt; an injury created by use of a whip or a similar weapon.
3. (rare) A lesion; a boil.

• English: wale
• Scots: wale, Scots: wail

• “wāle (n.(2))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-10.

From Old Norse val, from Proto-Germanic *walą, *walō.

• wayle, wall, wal

• IPA^(key): /waːl/

wale

1. A selection or possibility; a decision.
2. (rare) A preference; something chosen due to its quality.

• walen

• English: wale
• Scots: wale, Scots: wail

• “wāle (n.(1))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-10.

wale

1. amazing, of great quality or talent.
2. pleasing, nice, enjoyable, benevolent
3. strong, firm, strengthy
4. (negatively) impactful, grievous, melancholy
5. (rare) decided, resolved, picked.

• “wāle (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-10.

From Old English wæl.

wale

1. Alternative form of wal

From wale (“selection”).

wale

1. Alternative form of walen

From Old English hwæl.

wale

1. Alternative form of whale

• IPA^(key): /ˈvalə/

wale

1. (Mooring Dialect) to want

• IPA^(key): /ˈva.lɛ/
• Homophone: walę

wale m inan or m anim

1. inflection of wał:
   1. locative singular
   2. vocative singular

wale m anim

1. inflection of wal:
   1. nominative plural
   2. accusative plural
   3. vocative plural

From Middle English wal, wale, from Old Norse val (“choice”), from Proto-Germanic *walą, *walō (“desire, choice”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”). Akin to Old Norse velja (“to choose”), Old High German wala (“choice”) (German wählen (“to choose”)), Old English willan (“to want”).

• IPA^(key): /wel/

wale (plural wales)

1. choice, selection

wale (third-person singular present wales, present participle walin, past waled, past participle waled)

1. to choose

wale

1. Wa class inflected form of -le.