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wale

Pronunciation: /ˈweɪl/

The English word “wale” has 13 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A ridge or low barrier.
  2. A raised rib in knitted goods or fabric, especially corduroy.
  3. The texture of a piece of fabric.
  4. A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship, such as a gunwale or a chainwale.
  5. A horizontal timber used for supporting or retaining earth.
  6. A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.
  7. A ridge on the outside of a horse collar.
  8. A ridge or streak produced on skin by a cane or whip.
  9. Something selected as being the best, preference; choice; choosing.

verb

  1. To strike the skin in such a way as to produce a wale or welt.
  2. To beat a person, especially as punishment or out of anger.
  3. To give a surface a texture of wales or welts.
  4. To choose, select.

Etymology

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.