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hallow1

[hal-oh]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to make holy; sanctify; consecrate.
  2. to honor as holy; consider sacred; venerate: to hallow a battlefield.
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Origin of hallow1

before 900; Middle English hal(o)wen, Old English hālgian (cognate with German heiligen, Old Norse helga), derivative of hālig holy
Related formshal·low·er, noun

hallow2

[huh-loh]
interjection, noun, verb (used with or without object)
  1. hallo.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hallows

Historical Examples

  • “Mrs. Hallows was a woman of piety, improved by reading,” says one witness.

    The Essays of "George Eliot"

    George Eliot

  • After All Hallows we 'll come back and hear the end of these great matters.

    Long Will

    Florence Converse

  • But this availeth yet,” said he, “That Hallows All our love may see.

    Poems by the Way

    William Morris

  • That night at Hallows Brig was the one time only Mr. Dane had word with me.

  • All Hallows' Church was repaired and beautified at the cost of the parishioners in 1625.

    Old and New London

    Walter Thornbury

British Dictionary definitions for hallows

hallow

verb (tr)
  1. to consecrate or set apart as being holy
  2. to venerate as being holy
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Derived Formshallower, noun

Word Origin

Old English hālgian, from hālig holy
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

Word Origin and History for hallows

in All-Hallows, a survival of hallow in the noun sense of "holy personage, saint," attested from Old English haligra but little used after c.1500. Hallowmas "All-saints" is first attested late 14c.

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hallow

v.

Old English halgian "to make holy, to honor as holy, consecrate, ordain," related to halig "holy," from Proto-Germanic *hailaga- (cf. Old Saxon helagon, Middle Dutch heligen, Old Norse helga), from PIE root *kailo- "whole, uninjured, of good omen" (see health). Used in Christian translations to render Latin sanctificare. Also used since Old English as a noun meaning "holy person, saint." Related: Hallowed; hallowing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper