Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos
Proto-Germanic *hailaz
Proto-Indo-European *-kos
Proto-Germanic *-gaz
Proto-Germanic *hailagazder.
Proto-Germanic *hailagô
Proto-West Germanic *hailagō
Old English hālga
Middle English halwe
English hallow
Inherited from Middle English halwe (“a saint, holy thing, shrine”), from Old English hālga (“a holy one, saint”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagô (“holy one”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots halow, hallow (“saint”), German Heiliger (“saint (male)”) / Heilige (“saint (female)”). More at holy, whole.
Meanings
(qualifier:obsolete outside set phrases) A saint; a holy person; an apostle.
All Hallows Eve (or Halloween), the night before All Hallows Day (now more commonly known as "All Saints' Day").
(in-plural, obsolete) The relics or shrines of saints or non-Christian gods.
To seek hallows: to visit relics or shrines, in the belief that the saints themselves are present there.
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos
Proto-Germanic *hailaz
Proto-Indo-European *-kos
Proto-Germanic *-gaz
Proto-Germanic *hailagaz
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti
Proto-Germanic *-ōną
Proto-Germanic *hailagōną
Proto-West Germanic *hailagōn
Old English hālgian
Middle English halwen
English hallow
Inherited from Middle English halwen (“to hallow, sanctify”), from Old English hālgian (“to hallow, sanctify, make holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagōną (“to make holy”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Dutch heiligen (“to hallow”), German heiligen (“to hallow”). More at holy.
Meanings
(transitive) To make holy, to sanctify.
[…]I am coming on, to venge me as I may and to put forth my rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause. 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
Come hallow the goblet with something more true / Than words we forget in a minute. 1847, Charles Swain, Dramatic Chapters: Poems and Songs, D. Bogue, page 324:
Inherited from Middle English halowen, from halow (interjection), from Old English ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”, interjection), probably conflated with Old French halloer.
Meanings
A shout, cry; a hulloo.
I told them, the sherriff could not be admitted on board this time of night, on which they set up a hallow and rowed as fast as they could towards the vessel's bows. 1772, William Read Staples, The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee, Knowles, Vose, and Anthony, published 1845, page 14:
Then away they went from merry Sherwood / And into Yorkshire he did hie / And the King did follow, with a hoop and a hallow / But could not come him nigh. 1777, Robin Hood's Chase, reprinted in 2003, Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Courier Dover Publications, page 206
Inherited from Middle English halowen, from halow (interjection), from Old English ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”, interjection), probably conflated with Old French halloer.
Meanings
To shout, especially to urge on dogs for hunting.
[…] for the conversation (if it may be called so) was seldom such as could entertain a lady. It consisted chiefly of hallowing, singing, relations of sporting adventures, b—d—y, and abuse of women, and of the government. 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IV, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:
But it was not a hallow victory. 2003, George A. Lyall, To a Different Drummer: A Family's Story, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 208:
If the sun were a hallow sphere of its present size and the earth were placed at the center[...]. Such a hallow sphere would hold more than a million balls the size of the earth. 1902, National Council of Geography Teachers (U.S.), The Journal of Geography, National Council for Geographic Education, page 93: