hallow

American  

[hal-oh] / ˈhæl oʊ /

verb (used with object)

• hallows,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hallowed,
  past participle,  past
• hallowing
  present participle

1. to make holy; sanctify; consecrate.

2. to honor as holy; consider sacred; venerate.

   to hallow a battlefield.

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hallow British  

/ ˈhæləʊ /

verb

1. to consecrate or set apart as being holy

2. to venerate as being holy

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hallower
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• hallowing
  present
• hallowed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hallow
  simple
• hallows
  simple
• have hallowed
  perfect
• has hallowed
  perfect
• am hallowing
  progressive
• are hallowing
  progressive
• is hallowing
  progressive
• have been hallowing
  perfect progressive
• has been hallowing
  perfect progressive

Past

• hallowed
  simple
• had hallowed
  perfect
• was hallowing
  progressive
• were hallowing
  progressive
• had been hallowing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hallow
  simple
• will have hallowed
  perfect
• will be hallowing
  progressive
• will have been hallowing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of hallow

First recorded before 900; Middle English hal(o)wen, Old English hālgian (cognate with German heiligen, Old Norse helga ), derivative of hālig “consecrated, sacred, holy”; see holy

Explanation

To hallow is to bless, consecrate, or render holy by means of religious rites, especially significant religious places or the relics of saints. As a noun, hallow means "saint." The word for our popular holiday Halloween is a shortened form of "All Hallows' Eve," or "All Saints' Eve," which precedes All Saints' Day. In the verb form, the synonyms bless and sanctify are more commonly used these days, but hallow still appears in such phrases as "hallowed ground" (ground that's been blessed) and the Christian "hallowed be Thy name" (a phrase from "The Lord's Prayer," where hallowed means "revered").

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hallow hallows hallowed hallowing

“No building will ever achieve the eloquence of this void in speaking of the event. We do not hallow this ground simply by filling it with buildings.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 2020

Happily for America, we rely on lessons of experience where we hallow and raise not men but ideas and virtues.

From Time ● Sep. 16, 2016

For a self-proclaimed straight shooter, Rousey rang hallow during fight week when she said on a pre-bout conference call with media that if fans wanted another bout with Tate so did she.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 2, 2015

Rarely does he wield it with power — instead, his soft hallow scrape is marked by flexibility and candor.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2015

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate... we cannot consecrate ... we cannot hallow this ground.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

He came on a meadow between two streams where the flower called white hallows grew thick, and as these blossoms are rare and prized by healers, he came back again next day.

From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin

How deeply did I then feel in my heart, the presence of that Great Spirit which broods over and hallows all it has given to the eye of man to scan!

From Daisy Burns (Volume 2) by Julia Kavanagh

Those brilliant gems are being added to other hallows, too.

From The Demands of Rome Her Own Story of Thirty-One Years as a Sister of Charity in the Order of the Sisters of Charity of Providence of the Roman Catholic Church by Elizabeth Schoffen

This is the voice of the unhesitating praise that embraces and hallows the globe.”

From Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors by James Freeman Clarke

Edmund Burke's house, also in Gerrard Street, is a beer-shop; but his memory hallows the place, and an inscription upon it proudly announces that here he lived.

From Shakespeare's England by William Winter

LONDON—The Bayeux Tapestry, Britain’s most hallowed piece of cloth, is back in England for the first time in about 1,000 years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

But the biggest honor that Peluso is looking forward to is playing the hallowed stage of the Hollywood Bowl.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

Now, he says there's tangible excitement about the venue's future and stars should feel there is as much "hallowed turf" here than over in the Olympic Park.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

But none of them match this show’s sense of place – not even the hallowed “Frasier.”

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026

It seemed too good to be true, an entry into a hallowed American kingdom.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Now “Becoming” is the hallowing of her second coming: as an unprecedented, potentially billion-dollar American brand.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 6, 2018

The Central Committee's hallowing of that 1976 ceremony was a subtle way for Teng to humiliate his old enemies.

From Time Magazine Archive

At St. Louis they drove across the prairie through flowering and fragrant shrubs, past orchards bending and breaking with loads of fruit, where boys rode by on calico ponies "hallowing & laughing."

From Time Magazine Archive

There was not a tearless eye in the vast congregation; and the remembrance of that hour had doubtless a hallowing influence upon the young pastor's life.

From Mind Amongst the Spindles by Various

It seemed to me, too, a beautiful and desirable thing to begin the day thus, with a delicate hallowing of the hours; to put one gentle thought into the heart, perfumed by the sweet music.

From The Thread of Gold by Arthur Christopher Benson

Related Words

• sanctify