whole gale

American  

noun

Meteorology.

1. a wind of 55–63 miles per hour (24–28 meters per second).

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whole gale British  

noun

1. a wind of force ten on the Beaufort scale

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Etymology

Origin of whole gale

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

whole gale

The storm warnings that flew Lake Michigan's length changed that night into "whole gale" warnings.

From Time Magazine Archive

A whole gale is coming, and the woods are beside themselves.

From Anthony Lyveden by Dornford Yates

Then I went to sleep, waking again at seven to find it blowing half a gale of wind, which rapidly increased to a whole gale.

From The Last Voyage to India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam' by R. T. (Robert Taylor) Pritchett

Isabel's old house creaked and rattled and groaned like a ship in a whole gale, and the wind sent great waves of rain along the veranda.

From Ancestors A Novel by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

"The place it comes from must give out soon, unless a new trade wind's got fixed into a whole gale for this here ocean."

From The Frozen Pirate by W. Clark (William Clark) Russell