wale

¹ American  

[weyl] / weɪl /

noun

1. a streak, stripe, or ridge produced on the skin by the stroke of a rod or whip; welt.

2. the vertical rib in knit goods or a chain of loops running lengthwise in knit fabric (course ).

3. the texture or weave of a fabric.

4. Nautical.

   1. any of certain strakes of thick outside planking on the sides of a wooden ship.

   2. gunwale.

5. Also called breast timber,.  Also called ranger, waling.  Engineering, Building Trades. a horizontal timber or other support for reinforcing various upright members, as sheet piling or concrete form boards, or for retaining earth at the edge of an excavation.

6. a ridge on the outside of a horse collar.

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verb (used with object)

waled, waling

1. to mark with wales.

2. to weave with wales.

3. Engineering, Building Trades. to reinforce or fasten with a wale or wales.

wale ² American  

[weyl] / weɪl /

noun

1. something that is selected as the best; choice.

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verb (used with object)

waled, waling

1. to choose; select.

wale ¹ British  

/ weɪl /

noun

1. the raised mark left on the skin after the stroke of a rod or whip

2. 1. the weave or texture of a fabric, such as the ribs in corduroy

   2. a vertical row of stitches in knitting Compare course

3. nautical

   1. a ridge of planking along the rail of a ship

   2. See gunwale

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verb

1. to raise a wale or wales on by striking

2. to weave with a wale

wale ² British  

/ weɪl /

noun

1. a choice

2. anything chosen as the best

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adjective

1. choice

verb

1. (tr) to choose

Etymology

Origin of wale¹

First recorded before 1050; Middle English; Old English walu “ridge, rib, welt”; cognate with Old Norse vǫlr, Gothic walus “rod, wand”; wheal;

Origin of wale²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English noun wal(e), from Old Norse val “choice,”

Example Sentences

The fugues, meanwhile, weave something more like the wale of a domestic fabric.

From Washington Post • Jan. 8, 2022

So there will be swimming, swinging, climbing, leaping and harpooning from tall, bent-steel pipes that form the ship and ribs of the great white wale.

From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2016

The rapper then launched into a not-suitable-for-work rant against a former magazine editor who tweeted, “if i’m trump i’m pushing the narrative that obama really put wale on his playlist in an effort to undermine his administration.”

From Washington Post • Aug. 11, 2016

Resoled in Saratoga, riveting in a wide wale suit, I use law, Ed.

From Time • Apr. 4, 2015

The moral was pointed when I drank a friendly cup of tea in Cadogan Square; the day before she marked his cheek with its present angry wale.

From The Sixth Sense A Novel by McKenna, Stephen