gale

Meanings

1. To cry; groan; croak.
2. To talk.
3. To sing; utter with musical modulations.

1. A very strong wind, more than a breeze, less than a storm; number 7 through to 9 winds on the 12-step Beaufort scale.
2. An outburst, especially of laughter.
3. A light breeze.

1. To sail, or sail fast.

1. A shrub, also called sweet gale or bog myrtle (Myrica gale), that grows on moors and fens.

1. A periodic payment, such as is made of a rent or annuity.
2. The personal mining plot of a freeminer.

1. A surname.
2. A unisex given name.
3. A number of places in the United States:
4. An unincorporated community in Alexander County, Illinois.
5. An unincorporated community in Center Township, Hendricks County, Indiana.
6. An unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia.
7. A town in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.

Etymology

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.