wale

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈweɪl/, [ˈweɪɫ]

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

Related terms

• waling

Translations

• French: côte

Verb

wale (wales, present participle waling; past and past participle waled)

1. To strike the skin in such a way as to produce a wale or welt.
   • 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 or welts.

Translations

• French: côteler

Noun

wale (plural wales)

1. (Scotland, northern England) Something selected as being the best, preference; choice.

Verb

wale (wales, present participle waling; past and past participle waled)

1. (Scotland, northern England) To choose, select.

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