hail
verb /heɪl/
/heɪl/
Verb Forms
Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they hail | /heɪl/ /heɪl/ |
| he / she / it hails | /heɪlz/ /heɪlz/ |
| past simple hailed | /heɪld/ /heɪld/ |
| past participle hailed | /heɪld/ /heɪld/ |
| -ing form hailing | /ˈheɪlɪŋ/ /ˈheɪlɪŋ/ |
- [transitive, usually passive] to describe somebody/something as being very good or special, especially in newspapers, etc.
- be hailed (as) something The conference was hailed as a great success.
- The expedition was widely hailed as a success.
- Teenager Matt Brown is being hailed a hero for saving a young child from drowning.
- hail somebody/something as something Union leaders hailed the socialists’ victory as a huge step forward.
- [transitive] hail something to signal to a taxi or a bus, in order to get the driver to stop
- to hail a taxi/cab
- [transitive] hail somebody (literary) to call to somebody in order to say hello to them or attract their attention
- A voice hailed us from the other side of the street.
- We soon came within hailing distance of (= fairly close to) the others.
- [intransitive] when it hails, small balls of ice fall like rain from the sky
- It's hailing!
Word Originverb sense 4 Old English hagol, hægl (noun), hagalian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hagel and German Hagel. verb senses 1 to 3 Middle English: from the obsolete adjective hail ‘healthy’ (occurring in greetings and toasts, such as wæs hæil: see wassail), from Old Norse heill, related to hale and whole.