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

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

Abraham Lincoln stated it succinctly at Gettysburg with his series of negatives: “We can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.”

From Washington Post ● May 24, 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

During passage through several thousand years it transformed into hail, hale, health, hallow, holy, whole, and heal, and all of these still move together through our minds.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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

There is nothing that hallows my mind, meseems, Like the night with its moon and its stars above; 'Tis a mystical lily whose golden gleams Fulfill my being with love.

From A Voice on the Wind and Other Poems by Madison Julius Cawein

Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick rests in the Friends burial ground in an unmarked grave, but his spirit hallows several houses in Alexandria.

From Seaport in Virginia George Washington's Alexandria by Gay Montague Moore

He will say that the thing gratifies, fills, hallows, exalts his mind, but he will not be able to say why, or how.

From Modern Painters Volume I (of V) by John Ruskin

This I will teach you to fulfill, and show you that it does not detract from happiness, but hallows and strengthens it.

From A Twofold Life by Wilhelmine von Hillern

As in Shikoku, locals welcomed us as we entered their small towns to engage in hallowed rituals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 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

Through her the field of grain was hallowed.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

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

We were amused at conjecturing how great his surprise would be should he next be disturbed by the hallowing of a party of Esquimaux, whom he greatly dreaded.

From Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea by John Franklin

If we sing, Deo gratias, and Te Deum laudamus, and say, God be praised and blessed, when misfortune overtakes us, that is called by Peter and Isaiah a true hallowing of the Lord.

From The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude Preached and Explained by E. H. (Ezra Hall) Gillett

Related Words

• sanctify