Jump To:

• hale
  hale

  adjective

  free from disease or infirmity; robust; vigorous.
• Hale
  Hale

  noun

  Edward Everett, 1822–1909, U.S. clergyman and author.

hale

¹ American  

[heyl] / heɪl /

adjective

haler, halest

1. free from disease or infirmity; robust; vigorous.

   hale and hearty men in the prime of life.

   Synonyms:

   healthy, sound

   Antonyms:

   sickly

---

hale ² American  

[heyl] / heɪl /

verb (used with object)

haled, haling

1. to compel (someone) to go.

   to hale a man into court.

2. to haul; pull.

---

hale ³ American  

[hah-ley] / ˈhɑ leɪ /

noun

1. (in Hawaii) a simple thatched-roof dwelling.

---

Hale ⁴ American  

[heyl] / heɪl /

noun

1. Edward Everett, 1822–1909, U.S. clergyman and author.

2. George Ellery 1868–1938, U.S. astronomer.

3. Sir Matthew, 1609–76, British jurist: Lord Chief Justice 1671–76.

4. Nathan, 1755–76, American soldier hanged as a spy by the British during the American Revolution.

5. Sarah Josepha 1788–1879, U.S. editor and author.

---

Hale ¹ British  

/ heɪl /

noun

1. George Ellery. 1868–1938, US astronomer: undertook research into sunspots and invented the spectroheliograph

2. Sir Matthew. 1609–76, English judge and scholar; Lord Chief Justice (1671–76)

---

hale ² British  

/ heɪl /

adjective

1. healthy and robust (esp in the phrase hale and hearty )

2. dialect whole

---

hale ³ British  

/ heɪl /

verb

1. (tr) to pull or drag; haul

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• haler
  noun
• haleness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of hale¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English (northern and Scottish); Old English hāl “sound, uninjured”; see origin at whole, heal ( def. )

Origin of hale²

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English hal(l)en, hailen “to drag, pull,” from Old French haler, from Germanic; compare Dutch halen “to pull, fetch”; akin to Old English geholian “to get, obtain,” German holen “to fetch”; see also haul

Origin of hale³

First recorded in 1885–90; from Hawaiian; literally, “house, hall, building”

Explanation

If you're hale, you’re strong and in good health. Think "hale and hearty," the well-known phrase to describe someone who can lift a piano or work ten hours in a field without blinking an eye. Don't confuse hale with hail. Hale, again, is healthy. Hail is for hailing a cab, or hailing to Caesar, and it also means a kind of precipitation where frozen ice balls pour down from the sky. Hale is a word that conjures up country folk, farming stock, people who swear that they haven’t had to go to a doctor in ten years because they sleep with the windows open 365 days a year.

Example Sentences

Stanford-bound Connor Ohl of Newport Harbor won the 50 freestyle sprint for a second straight year in 19.96 — one-hundredth of a second off the meet record set in 2008 by Joey Hale of Redlands.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026

How much they’re saving: Hale and his wife let their EVs charge overnight when electric costs are lower.

From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026

Guest: Christopher Hale, author of the “Letters from Leo” Substack, “a chronicle of how Pope Leo XIV’s papacy intersects with American politics, faith, and the digital age during the presidency of Donald Trump.”

From Slate • Apr. 16, 2026

The feisty heroine is Iris Hawkins, who, in the course of a tentative love affair with a nerdy engineer named Geoffrey Hale, discovers the pernicious designs of a secret order.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

Rosa Vaughan’s suit against Burt, who was represented by one of the same law firms that had represented Hale in the murder trials, was initially dismissed in state court.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann