to hail
- verb
- /heɪl/
- When the forecast predicted severe weather, I was nervous about the possibility of ice hailing at any moment.
Examples
-
Hail the size of your fist.
-
When it started to hail, it was like golf balls pounding off the roofs of the cars.
-
Rain, wind, and now hail—large and icy—batter the car.
Fiction book (2000) -
It's all melted now, but that tornado brought along with it hail the size of hermit crabs, gallstones, Amish dumplings, or shrunken heads.
Fiction book (1999) -
During the storm, large chunks of ice hailed down from the sky, damaging roofs and cars.
-
As the thunder roared, ice balls began to hail heavily, turning the streets white.
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- Archaic
Being friendly and cheerful when meeting people, sometimes too familiar
How Hard
Surface Forms
Etymology
Hail (verb, of ice) is from the same old word as the noun hail, so to hail is simply for the sky to 'drop' those small ice stones — that's why we say 'it hails' when ice falls.