German

Noun

Wale m pl

1. plural of Wal: whales

English

Noun

wale ‎(plural wales)

1. A ridge or low barrier.
2. A raised rib in knit goods or fabric, especially corduroy. (As opposed to course)
3. The texture of a piece of fabric.
4. (nautical) A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship. (See gunwale, 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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

7. A ridge on the outside of a horse collar.
8. A ridge or streak produced on skin by a cane or whip.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

Translations

Verb

wale ‎(third-person singular simple present wales, present participle waling, simple past and past participle waled)

1. To strike the skin in such a way as to produce a wale.
   • 1832: Owen Felltham, Resolves, Divine, Moral, Political

     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?

   • 2002: Hal Rothman, Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century

     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.

2. To give a surface a texture of wales.

Translations

See also

• whale
• weal
• wheal

Etymology 2

Middle English wal, wale, from Old Norse val ‎(“choice”), from Proto-Germanic *walą, *walō ‎(“desire, choice”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)welə- ‎(“to choose, wish”). Akin to Old Norse velja ‎(“to choose”), Old High German wala "choice" (German wählen "to choose"), Old English willan ‎(“to want”). More at will.

Noun

wale ‎(plural wales)

1. Something selected as being the best, preference; choice.

Verb

wale ‎(third-person singular simple present wales, present participle waling, simple past and past participle waled)

1. to choose, select.

Anagrams

• lawe, weal

Fulniô

Noun

wale

1. pig

References

• 2009 (originally 1968), Douglas Meland, Doris Meland, Fulniô (Yahthe) Syntax Structure: Preliminary Version, Associação Internacional de Linguística - SIL Brasil, page 19.

Hawaiian

Noun

wale

1. phlegm
2. saliva

Particle

wale

1. Used to modify the preceding word only, just, alone; quite, very; simply, for free, without reason

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaːlə/

Adverb

wale

1. Alternative form of wel

Scots

Etymology

Middle English wal, wale, from Old Norse val ‎(“choice”), from Proto-Germanic *walą, *walō ‎(“desire, choice”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)welə- ‎(“to choose, wish”). Akin to Old Norse velja ‎(“to choose”), Old High German wala "choice" (German wählen "to choose"), Old English willan ‎(“to want”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wel/

Noun

wale ‎(plural wales)

1. choice, selection

Verb

wale ‎(third-person singular present wales, present participle walin, past waled, past participle waled)

1. to choose

Swahili

Adjective

wale

1. Wa class inflected form of -le.