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weal1

[weel]
noun
  1. well-being, prosperity, or happiness: the public weal; weal and woe.
  2. Obsolete. wealth or riches.
  3. Obsolete. the body politic; the state.
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Origin of weal1

before 900; Middle English wele, Old English wela; akin to well1

weal2

[weel]
noun
  1. wheal.
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Origin of weal2

variant of wale1, with ea of wheal
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

streak, wale, scar, ridge, wound, bruise, stripe, mouse, injury, contusion, whelk, wheal, abundance, prosperity, good, advantage, success, contentment, profit, ease

Examples from the Web for weals

Historical Examples

  • A small weir over a river, where weals are laid for taking fish.

    The Sailor's Word-Book

    William Henry Smyth

  • If weals had started up across it, Noel would not have been surprised.

    Saint's Progress

    John Galsworthy

  • He got up and beat her till she was marked with weals, but she uttered no complaint.

  • I saw all the swords of Feudal and all the weals of Industrial war.

    Tremendous Trifles

    G. K. Chesterton

  • All seems far from the world, drowsy, careless, indifferent to the weals and woes of suffering humanity.

British Dictionary definitions for weals

weal1

noun
  1. a raised mark on the surface of the body produced by a blowAlso called: wale, welt, wheal
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Word Origin

C19: variant of wale 1, influenced in form by wheal

weal2

noun
  1. archaic prosperity or wellbeing (now esp in the phrases the public weal, the common weal)
  2. obsolete the state
  3. obsolete wealth
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Word Origin

Old English wela; related to Old Saxon welo, Old High German wolo
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 weals

weal

n.1

"well-being," Old English wela "wealth," in late Old English also "welfare, well-being," from West Germanic *welon, from PIE root *wel- "to wish, will" (see will (v.)). Related to well (adv.).

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weal

n.2

"raised mark on skin," 1821, alteration of wale (q.v.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
weals in Medicine

weal

(wēl)
n.
  1. A ridge on the flesh raised by a blow; a welt.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.