Definition of "hail" in English

noun

1. (meteorology, uncountable) Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.

2. (meteorology, countable) An occurrence of this type of precipitation; a hailstorm.

3. (countable, by extension) A rapid, intense barrage by a large number of projectiles or other objects.

verb

1. (impersonal) To have hailstones fall from the sky.

   • They say it's going to hail tomorrow.

2. (intransitive) To send or release hail.

   • The cloud would hail down furiously within a few minutes.

3. To pour down in rapid succession.

adjective

1. (obsolete) Healthy, whole, safe.

verb

1. (transitive) To greet; give salutation to; salute.

2. (transitive) To name; to designate; to call.

   • He was hailed as a hero.

3. (transitive) To call out loudly in order to gain the attention of.

   • Hail a taxi.

4. (transitive) To signal in order to initiate communication with.

5. (transitive) In the game of uppies and downies, to throw (the ball) repeatedly up and down at the goal location, in order to score a point.

6. (from) to originate (from), be native (to) or be based (in)

interjection

1. (archaic or poetic) An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.