haul
Americanverb (used with object)
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hauls,
present (3rd person singular)
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hauled,
past participle, past
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hauling
present participle
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to pull or draw with force; move by drawing; drag.
They hauled the boat up onto the beach.
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to cart or transport; carry.
The locomotive hauled freight over the Wasatch Mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming.
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to lower; cause to descend (often followed bydown ).
As the students gathered around the flagpole, the school custodian hauled down the flag.
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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.
verb (used without object)
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hauls,
present (3rd person singular)
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hauled,
past participle, past
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hauling
present participle
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to pull or tug with force or effort.
The sailors hauled on the oars as hard as they could.
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to go or come to a place, especially with effort.
After much carousing in the streets, they finally hauled into the tavern.
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to cart or transport, or to move freight commercially.
Ours is one of many Canadian trucking companies hauling south of the border.
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Nautical.
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to sail, as in a particular direction.
They sailed to the west of Corsica, and then hauled south again.
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to draw or pull a vessel up on land, as for repairs or storage.
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(of the wind) to shift to a direction closer to the heading of a vessel (opposed to veer).
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(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.
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noun
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hauls
plural
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a strong pull or tug.
He felt a sudden haul on the other end of the rope.
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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.
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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.
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Fishing.
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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.
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the draft of a fishing net.
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the place where a seine is hauled.
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the act of taking or acquiring something, or something taken or acquired.
The thieves' haul included several valuable paintings.
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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
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haul up
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to bring before a superior for judgment or reprimand; call to account.
They were hauled up on a drug trafficking charge.
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to come to a halt; stop.
As night was falling we finally hauled up at an old farmhouse owned by a friendly couple.
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Nautical. to change the course of (a sailing vessel) so as to sail closer to the wind.
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Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to come closer to the wind.
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Nautical. (of a vessel) to come to a halt.
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haul off
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Nautical. to change a ship's course so as to get farther off from an object.
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to withdraw; leave.
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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.
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idioms
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haul / shag ass, to get a move on; hurry.
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haul in with, to approach.
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haul around,
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to brace (certain yards of a sailing vessel).
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(of the wind) to change in a clockwise direction.
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verb
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to drag or draw (something) with effort
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(tr) to transport, as in a lorry
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nautical to alter the course of (a vessel), esp so as to sail closer to the wind
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(tr) nautical to draw or hoist (a vessel) out of the water onto land or a dock for repair, storage, etc
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(intr) nautical (of the wind) to blow from a direction nearer the bow Compare veer 1
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(intr) to change one's opinion or action
noun
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the act of dragging with effort
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(esp of fish) the amount caught at a single time
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something that is hauled
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the goods obtained from a robbery
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a distance of hauling
a three-mile haul
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the amount of a contraband seizure
arms haul
drugs haul
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in a future time
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over a lengthy period of time
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Synonym Usage
See draw.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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haulsimple
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haulssimple
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have hauledperfect
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has hauledperfect
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am haulingprogressive
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are haulingprogressive
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is haulingprogressive
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have been haulingperfect progressive
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has been haulingperfect progressive
Past
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hauledsimple
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had hauledperfect
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was haulingprogressive
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were haulingprogressive
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had been haulingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing haul
"The War of the Wall" by Toni Cade Bambara
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Charlotte's Web
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The Circuit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“It’s going to be a long haul for us to get back to where we were,” Stratton said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
The Texas-based company said Tuesday that Virginia quarry operator Luck Stone will expand its use of autonomous haul trucks to two additional quarries following an 18-month autonomous hauling pilot at its Bull Run, Va., operation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
In addition to Mosaku’s Academy Award nomination for supporting actress, “Sinners’” Oscars haul included wins for filmmaker Ryan Coogler, star Michael B. Jordan, cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw and composer Ludwig Göransson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
More than five million owned Palmer when he scored four goals against Everton during a 26-point haul in gameweek 33, albeit he still only cost £6.1m.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
“Dude, gotta haul it if you don’t wanna get the crusty leftovers.”
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
On YouTube, L.A.-based influencer Emma Chamberlain’s thrift store hauls went viral.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Tongue and Robinson are the first pair of England bowlers to register five-wicket hauls in the same Test innings since Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar against Pakistan at Old Trafford in 2006.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
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
He hauls me from the suck of the waves.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
They hauled themselves back into it with a little glimpse of quality, but then fell back into destructive ways.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Watch for the spikes in produce, meat and other perishable foods that have to be harvested and hauled on diesel-powered farm equipment and shipped on diesel-powered trucks.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
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
As the White House pushes to boost domestic production of raw materials, some are looking to the potential gold mine hauled in by garbage trucks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
He hauled himself on top of the wall.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
The sudden supply crunch among oil supertankers—known as very large crude carriers, or VLCCs—has boosted the cost of hauling oil through the strait to the highest on record.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
During Season 2, they were far more competitive, hauling in behemoths weighing 45 and 58 pounds.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
The 105 surviving crew members abandoned the vessels and began a desperate attempt to reach safety, traveling along the west coast of King William Island, Nunavut, while hauling boats on sleds.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
The price of the fuel largely used in road hauling, agriculture and construction hit $5.9015, the AAA said, around 30 cents higher than the average just one week earlier.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
Then, with the end of the chain slung over his shoulder, he began hauling the watch to his house.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
