haul

American  

[hawl] / hɔl /

verb (used with object)

• hauls,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hauled,
  past participle,  past
• hauling
  present participle

1. to pull or draw with force; move by drawing; drag.

   They hauled the boat up onto the beach.

2. to cart or transport; carry.

   The locomotive hauled freight over the Wasatch Mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming.

3. to lower; cause to descend (often followed bydown ).

   As the students gathered around the flagpole, the school custodian hauled down the flag.

4. to bring before an authority (often followed by before, in, to, into, etc.).

   He was hauled before the judge.

   She hauled me into the principal’s office.

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verb (used without object)

• hauls,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hauled,
  past participle,  past
• hauling
  present participle

1. to pull or tug with force or effort.

   The sailors hauled on the oars as hard as they could.

2. to go or come to a place, especially with effort.

   After much carousing in the streets, they finally hauled into the tavern.

3. to cart or transport, or to move freight commercially.

   Ours is one of many Canadian trucking companies hauling south of the border.

4. Nautical.

   1. to sail, as in a particular direction.

      They sailed to the west of Corsica, and then hauled south again.

   2. to draw or pull a vessel up on land, as for repairs or storage.

   3. (of the wind) to shift to a direction closer to the heading of a vessel (opposed to veer).

   4. (of the wind) to change direction, shift, or veer (often followed by round orto ).

      During the early morning hours the wind hauled northward and increased in intensity, with accompanying heavy seas.

noun

• hauls
  plural

1. a strong pull or tug.

   He felt a sudden haul on the other end of the rope.

2. an act or instance of transporting something, or the load or quantity transported.

   You have so little stuff to move, I can probably do it in two hauls with my pickup.

3. the distance or route over which anything is transported or carried.

   I’ve been using this truck for a year now on a weekly 30-mile haul.

4. Fishing.

   1. the quantity of fish taken at one draft of the net.

      We got such a huge haul of fish that we could hardly carry them home.

   2. the draft of a fishing net.

   3. the place where a seine is hauled.

5. the act of taking or acquiring something, or something taken or acquired.

   The thieves' haul included several valuable paintings.

6. Digital Technology. a video, photo, or report of something taken or acquired.

   He shops the flea markets over the weekend and then posts his haul on Monday afternoon.

verb phrase

1. haul up

   1. to bring before a superior for judgment or reprimand; call to account.

      They were hauled up on a drug trafficking charge.

   2. to come to a halt; stop.

      As night was falling we finally hauled up at an old farmhouse owned by a friendly couple.

   3. Nautical. to change the course of (a sailing vessel) so as to sail closer to the wind.

   4. Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to come closer to the wind.

   5. Nautical. (of a vessel) to come to a halt.

2. haul off

   1. Nautical. to change a ship's course so as to get farther off from an object.

   2. to withdraw; leave.

   3. Informal. to draw back the arm in order to strike; prepare to deal a blow.

      He hauled off and struck the insolent lieutenant a blow to the chin.

idioms

1. haul / shag ass, to get a move on; hurry.

2. haul in with, to approach.

3. haul around,

   1. to brace (certain yards of a sailing vessel).

   2. (of the wind) to change in a clockwise direction.

haul British  

/ hɔːl /

verb

1. to drag or draw (something) with effort

2. (tr) to transport, as in a lorry

3. nautical to alter the course of (a vessel), esp so as to sail closer to the wind

4. (tr) nautical to draw or hoist (a vessel) out of the water onto land or a dock for repair, storage, etc

5. (intr) nautical (of the wind) to blow from a direction nearer the bow Compare veer 1

6. (intr) to change one's opinion or action

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noun

1. the act of dragging with effort

2. (esp of fish) the amount caught at a single time

3. something that is hauled

4. the goods obtained from a robbery

5. a distance of hauling

   a three-mile haul

6. the amount of a contraband seizure

   arms haul

   drugs haul

7. 1. in a future time

   2. over a lengthy period of time

haul More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing haul

• long haul
• rake (haul) over the coals

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Synonym Usage

See draw.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rehaul
  verb
• unhauled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hauls
  plural

Participles

• hauling
  present
• hauled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• haul
  simple
• hauls
  simple
• have hauled
  perfect
• has hauled
  perfect
• am hauling
  progressive
• are hauling
  progressive
• is hauling
  progressive
• have been hauling
  perfect progressive
• has been hauling
  perfect progressive

Past

• hauled
  simple
• had hauled
  perfect
• was hauling
  progressive
• were hauling
  progressive
• had been hauling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will haul
  simple
• will have hauled
  perfect
• will be hauling
  progressive
• will have been hauling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of haul

First recorded in 1550–60; earlier hall, variant of hale ²

Explanation

To haul is to move or take something, usually big and heavy, and put it somewhere else. If you've ever moved to a new house, then you know that having to haul all your stuff there can really take the joy out of moving into a new place. You'll want to reserve haul for situations in which carrying something takes a lot of effort and ain't a lot of fun. You don't haul a sack of feathers, for example. You haul a bag of boulders, or a box of books. Haul is usually a verb, but you can also use it as a noun, when you're talking about lot of something that you caught or won. We went digging for clams—look at our haul! After winning at blackjack, take your haul and hit the road. Don't risk losing it all on roulette.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

haul hauls hauled hauling

According to PitchBook data, that record haul is nearly double California’s previous mark set in 2025 and more than triple the venture funding raised across the other 49 states combined.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Much like it is a tradition for a footballer to take away the match ball after scoring a hat-trick, a bowler will pocket the cricket ball after claiming a five-wicket haul.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

The total apple haul is forecast to drop 17.9 percent from last year's exceptionally large crop, and be down 5.4 percent compared to the average harvest over the past decade.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

Especially when I realized that what was in the bowl had begun as a five-item farmers market haul, helped along by a few things I already had at home.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

I fasten Camel’s pants, grab him by the armpits, and haul him back into the room.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

When Albano, a full-time content creator, posts her school supply hauls on social media, a deluge of messages come in from moms desperately asking Albano to donate items to their kids.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026

Some even opt for “try-on” hauls to model their new, trendy clothes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

Leida Bello, meanwhile, hauls her supplies home alone, where some walls are cracked and one has even collapsed.

From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026

When drawing comparisons with Norway, it cannot be overstated how the outrageous Haaland hauls them up a fair bit.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

Once I’ve stopped and wound the window down, she hauls in her breath and says, “Glad I caught you—there’s a job got called in for you last night, Ed. It sounded personal.”

From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak

Tourists hauled their suitcases over the doorstep into the fray, fresh off a flight or rushing to make one, if only they could get one last chicken finger first.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

The eldest is Kenny Heath, 63, a commercial fisherman who hauled in 32 bushels of crabs the day he put his 40-foot boat to the test in Pocomoke City.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Military helicopters backed by tractors on the ground hauled water Sunday to help firefighters tame Belgium's largest modern-day wildfire, which mushroomed in size since breaking out two days earlier in a hard-to-access nature reserve.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

Senior staff who refused to engage with the largest maternity scandal in NHS history should be hauled before Parliament, former health secretary Wes Streeting has said.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

She hauled the poles up into the lucky-beans with Crocodile Guts’s rope, and experimented with various configurations until she had a floor that was more or less level.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Hyrox, a strenuous fitness competition that involves 1-kilometer runs and multiple strength challenges such as hauling weights, had 55,000 participants in China this past year, up from 7,300 a year earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The problem comes in the morning and hauling themselves out of bed.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

Many rural areas have stopped curbside recycling collection because there isn’t enough volume of material to justify the fuel and logistics expense of hauling it to a distant recycling facility.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

And a $10 charge for trash hauling and $15 for valet trash service, on top of several other fees.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026

Thor jumped into the cold water and swam out, hauling his sack behind him.

From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman

Related Words

• bring
• carry
• cart
• drag
• heave
• hoist
• lift
• lug
• pack
• rake
• remove
• ride
• tote
• tow
• transport