Dictionary

wale en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• [ˈweɪɫ]
• /ˈweɪl/
• (Southern-England) audio

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.

Meanings

1. A ridge or low barrier.
2. A raised rib in knitted goods or fabric, especially corduroy.
   • I have woven a small sample of striped corduroy shown here. […] The stripe draws the eye from side to side while the wales draw the eye up and down. 1990, Sharon Alderman, A Handweaver's Notebook, →ISBN, page 50:
   • 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). 2008, Mary Lisa Gavenas, The Fairchild Encyclopedia of Menswear, page 99:
   • Most twills are continuous—the wale goes from one corner to the one diagonally opposite. Pattern, however, can be achieved by periodically changing the direction of the wales. 1979, Kax Wilson, A History of Textiles, Westview Press, →ISBN, pages 66-67:
3. The texture of a piece of fabric.
   • Crepon cloths, with their heavy crape-like wale, are a noteworthy part of the season's importations. 1892, “Family Fashions and Fancies”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 14, page 85:
4. A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship, such as a gunwale or a chainwale.
   • 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. 1863, Andrew Murray, Ship-building in Iron and Wood, page 93:
5. A horizontal timber used for supporting or retaining earth.
   • A few feet below the first wale another timber is inserted, likewise secured by struts. 1889 February 23, Architecture and Building: A Journal of Investment and Construction, volume 10, page 63:
6. A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.
   • Except Plank upon the Head of the Key, and under the upper Wale, and Plank to join the piles. 1754, Thomas Gardner, An Historical Account of Dunwich […] :
7. A ridge on the outside of a horse collar.
   • 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. 1976, Ralph Whitlock, Gentle giants: the past, present and future of the heavy horse, page 133:
8. A ridge or streak produced on skin by a cane or whip.
   • 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." 1854, S. W. Koelle, African Native Literature, Or Proverbs, Tales, Fables and Historical in the Kanuri Or Bornu Language:
   • I ran to her, and when I reached her I saw across the white skin of her shoulders the distinct wale of a whip. 2018, Seabury Quinn, The Dark Angel: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Three:
   • Shall then that foule infamous Cyneds hide Laugh at the purple wales of others side? 1597, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in Virgidemiarum, Sixe Bookes. First Three Bookes, of Tooth-lesse Satyrs. […], London: […] Thomas Creede, for Robert Dexter, →OCLC:

Forms

Coordinates

course

Deriveds

pinwale · gunnel · waler

Relateds

waling

Translations (7)

cs šleh (streak on skin) · ga fústa (raised rib in knit goods or fabric) · ca bordó (raised rib in knit goods or fabric) · fr côte (raised rib in knit goods or fabric) · cs jizva (streak on skin) · cs val (ridge) · pl pręga (raised rib in knit goods or fabric)

wale en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• [ˈweɪɫ]
• /ˈweɪl/
• (Southern-England) audio

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.

Meanings

1. To strike the skin in such a way as to produce a wale or welt.
   • 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? 1832, Owen Felltham, Resolves, Divine, Moral, Political:
2. To beat a person, especially as punishment or out of anger.
   • 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. 2002, Hal Rothman, Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century:
3. To give a surface a texture of wales or welts.

Forms

Relateds

wale on · wheal · whale · weal

Translations (1)

fr côteler (To give a surface a texture of wales)

wale en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• [ˈweɪɫ]
• /ˈweɪl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

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.

Meanings

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

Forms

wale en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• [ˈweɪɫ]
• /ˈweɪl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

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.

Meanings

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

Forms