gale

Meanings

Verb

• To sing; charm; enchant.
• To cry; groan; croak.
• To talk.
• To call.
• To sing; utter with musical modulations.
• To sail, or sail fast.

Noun

• A very strong wind, more than a breeze, less than a storm; number 7 through to 9 winds on the 12-step Beaufort scale.
• An outburst, especially of laughter.
• A light breeze.
• A shrub, also called sweet gale or bog myrtle (Myrica gale), that grows on moors and fens.
• A periodic payment, such as is made of a rent or annuity.

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.
• From Middle English gale ("a wind, breeze"), probably of North Germanic origin, related to Icelandic gola ("a breeze"), Danish gal ("furious, mad"), both from Old Norse gala ("to sing"), and thus ultimately related to the above word (etymology 1).
• From Middle English gaile, gawl, gawwyl, gaȝel, gagel, from Old English gagel, gagelle, gagille, gagolle, from Proto-Germanic *gagulaz. Cognate with Scots gaul, gall, Dutch gagel, German Gagel, Icelandic gaglviður.
• From Middle English gavel ("rent; tribute"), from Old English gafol.