Link Centre Dictionary

gale

UK/ɡeɪl/ US/ˈɡeɪl/ fairly common literary

noun

1.

a strong wind moving 45-90 knots; force 7 to 10 on Beaufort scale

Origin

From Middle English galen, from Old English galan (“to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream; sing charms, practice incantation”), from Proto-Germanic *galaną (“to roop, sing, charm”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shout, scream, charm away”). Cognate with Danish gale (“to crow”), Swedish gala (“to crow”), Icelandic gala (“to sing, chant, crow”), Dutch galm (“echo, sound, noise”). Related to yell.

Phrases

  • bang like a dunny door in a gale
  • Beaufort scale
  • gale force
  • Gale-Shapley algorithm
  • Gales Ferry
  • near gale
  • Schumpeter's gale
  • severe gale
  • strong gale
  • whole gale

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.