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

This whole gale of thought was blowing over Garlock's receptors like a Great Plains wind over miles-wide fields of corn.

From The Galaxy Primes by E. E. (Edward Elmer) Smith

Out of a bleak and threatening west the wind blew ominously true—a whole gale, accompanied by a heavy fall of snow.

From The Brassbounder A Tale of the Sea by David W. Bone

The Alabama lay still during the whole gale, not changing her position, perhaps, half a mile.

From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Raphael Semmes

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