weal

1
[ weel ]
See synonyms for weal on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. well-being, prosperity, or happiness: the public weal;weal and woe.

  2. Obsolete. wealth or riches.

  1. Obsolete. the body politic; the state.

Origin of weal

1
First recorded before 900; Middle English wele, Old English wela; akin to well1

Other definitions for weal (2 of 2)

weal2
[ weel ]

Origin of weal

2
Variant of wale1, with ea of wheal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use weal in a sentence

  • I turned, every bone in my body ached: the weals of the stirrup-leathers smarted and burned.

    In Kings' Byways | Stanley J. Weyman
  • If I was to bare my arm now I could show you weals that's more colours and brighter than your neckankercher there.

  • At the end of the dance, the boys' backs are seamed with wounds and weals, the scars of which remain through life.

  • Great livid weals crossed each other on the back, and two of the fingers were gone.

  • There, too, on the skin, were visible the weals of the daily scourgings by which the Archbishop mortified the flesh.

    The Ingoldsby Country | Charles G. (Charles George) Harper

British Dictionary definitions for weal (1 of 2)

weal1

/ (wiːl) /


noun
  1. a raised mark on the surface of the body produced by a blow: Also called: wale, welt, wheal

Origin of weal

1
C19: variant of wale 1, influenced in form by wheal

British Dictionary definitions for weal (2 of 2)

weal2

/ (wiːl) /


noun
  1. archaic prosperity or wellbeing (now esp in the phrases the public weal, the common weal)

  2. obsolete the state

  1. obsolete wealth

Origin of weal

2
Old English wela; related to Old Saxon welo, Old High German wolo

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012