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Idioms And Phrases

hail

[ heyl ]

/ heɪl /

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See synonyms for: hail / hailed / hailing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

to cheer, salute, or greet; welcome.

to acclaim; approve enthusiastically: The crowds hailed the conquerors. They hailed the recent advances in medicine.

to call out to in order to stop, attract attention, ask aid, etc.: to hail a cab.

verb (used without object)

to call out in order to greet, attract attention, etc.: The people on land hailed as we passed in the night.

noun

a shout or call to attract attention: They answered the hail of the marooned boaters.

a salutation or greeting: a cheerful hail.

the act of hailing.

interjection

(used as a salutation, greeting, or acclamation.)

Verb Phrases

hail from, to have as one's place of birth or residence: Nearly everyone here hails from the Midwest.

OTHER WORDS FOR hail

2 acclaim, applaud, honor, exalt, laud, proclaim, extol.

See synonyms for hail on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about hail

within hail, within range of hearing; audible: The mother kept her children within hail of her voice.

Origin of hail

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English verb heilen, hailen, derivative of hail “healthy, sound,” from Old Norse heill; cognate with Old English hǣl; see heal, wassail

OTHER WORDS FROM hail

hailer, noun

Words nearby hail

haik, haikai, Haikou, haiku, haikwan tael, hail, Hail Columbia, Haile Selassie, Haile Selassie I, hail-fellow, hail-fellow-well-met

Other definitions for hail (2 of 2)

hail²

[ heyl ]

/ heɪl /

noun

showery precipitation in the form of irregular pellets or balls of ice more than 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) in diameter, falling from a cumulonimbus cloud (distinguished from sleet).

a shower or storm of such precipitation.

a shower of anything: a hail of bullets.

verb (used without object)

to pour down hail (often used impersonally with it as subject): It hailed this afternoon.

to fall or shower as hail: Arrows hailed down on the troops as they advanced.

verb (used with object)

to pour down on as or like hail: The plane hailed leaflets on the city.

Origin of hail

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun hail, haiel, ail, Old English hæg(e)l, hagol; cognate with German Hagel, Old Norse hagl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hail in a sentence

A man struck in a hail of eight bullets Sunday afternoon had collapsed in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Southwest Washington.
After D.C. firefighter shot and wounded on the job, department expresses frustration at violence in city|Peter Hermann|November 24, 2020|Washington Post
That day at the park, we packed our bags while dodging peanut-size hail in a parking lot near String Lake.
Grand Teton Is a Hiker's Park|Emily Pennington|November 23, 2020|Outside Online
Each storm can bring a suite of problems, from hail to high winds, but it’s lightning that is your number one concern.
How to Survive 5 Extreme Weather Scenarios|Graham Averill|October 15, 2020|Outside Online
Severe thunderstorms can bring lightning and large hail on some occasions.
Columbus: A Rich History of LGBTQ Diversity|LGBTQ-Editor|August 30, 2020|No Straight News

It’s everything from getting a cab hail to wondering what’s going to happen when you get pulled over.
Full Transcript: Sean Spicer on ‘The Carlos Watson Show’|Daniel Malloy|August 26, 2020|Ozy
Why call a taxi when you can hail a Lyft to pick up visiting family and friends?
One of a Kind Gifts Are Only a Neighbor Away|Lawrence Ferber|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Elsewhere on the Internet, and often, Turkers butt heads over which tools work best, or what nation they hail from.
Amazon’s Turkers Kick Off the First Crowdsourced Labor Guild|Kevin Zawacki|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They unleashed a hail of bullets to rival the final scene in ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’
The Cleveland Cops Who Fired 137 Shots and Cried Victim|Michael Daly|December 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Victoria and Zoe Yin, who hail from Boston, were both deemed child prodigies at young ages.
Blessed or Cursed? Child Prodigies Reveal All|Justin Jones|November 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As an election tactic, it was a Hail-Mary move: a half-hour address by an aging actor of no political standing or constituency.
Remembering Reagan’s Defining Speech|Stuart Stevens|October 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city shall be made very low.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
Then he broke off, and when he next gave hint of his whereabouts, it was to hail us from the nearest point on the canyon rim.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
Thickets were swept as with a great jagged scythe by the leaden hail which swept through them.
The Courier of the Ozarks|Byron A. Dunn
He is the true soldier who knows how to die and stand his ground in the midst of a hail of bullets.
Third class in Indian railways|Mahatma Gandhi
Slipping the cable once more, the lifeboat gallantly dashed into the thickest of the fight, and soon got within hail of the wreck.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands|R.M. Ballantyne

British Dictionary definitions for hail (1 of 2)

hail¹

/ (heɪl) /

noun

small pellets of ice falling from cumulonimbus clouds when there are very strong rising air currents

a shower or storm of such pellets

words, ideas, etc, directed with force and in great quantitya hail of abuse

a collection of objects, esp bullets, spears, etc, directed at someone with violent force

verb

(intr; with it as subject) to be the case that hail is falling

(often with it as subject) to fall or cause to fall as or like hailto hail criticism; bad language hailed about him

Word Origin for hail

Old English hægl; related to Old Frisian heil, Old High German hagal hail, Greek kakhlēx pebble

British Dictionary definitions for hail (2 of 2)

hail²

/ (heɪl) /

verb (mainly tr)

to greet, esp enthusiasticallythe crowd hailed the actress with joy

to acclaim or acknowledgethey hailed him as their hero

to attract the attention of by shouting or gesturingto hail a taxi; to hail a passing ship

(intr foll by from) to be a native (of); originate (in)she hails from India

noun

the act or an instance of hailing

a shout or greeting

distance across which one can attract attention (esp in the phrase within hail)

sentence substitute

poetic an exclamation of greeting

Derived forms of hail

hailer, noun

Word Origin for hail

C12: from Old Norse heill whole; see hale 1, wassail

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for hail

hail

[ hāl ]

Precipitation in the form of rounded pellets of ice and hard snow that usually falls during thunderstorms. Hail forms when raindrops are blown up and down within a cloud, passing repeatedly through layers of warm and freezing air and collecting layers of ice until they are too heavy for the winds to keep them from falling.

Cultural definitions for hail

hail

Pellets of ice that form when updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops to high altitudes, where the water freezes and then falls back to Earth. Hailstones as large as baseballs have been recorded. Hail can damage crops and property.

Other Idioms and Phrases with hail

hail

In addition to the idiom beginning with hail

hail from

also see:

within call (hail)

hail

OTHER WORDS FOR hail

Idioms about hail

Origin of hail

OTHER WORDS FROM hail

Words nearby hail

Other definitions for hail (2 of 2)

Origin of hail

Words related to hail

How to use hail in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for hail (1 of 2)

Word Origin for hail

British Dictionary definitions for hail (2 of 2)

Derived forms of hail

Word Origin for hail

Scientific definitions for hail

Cultural definitions for hail

Other Idioms and Phrases with hail