Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A mark raised on the skin, as by a whip; a weal or welt.
- noun One of the parallel ribs or ridges in the surface of a fabric such as corduroy.
- noun The texture or weave of such a fabric.
- noun A gunwale.
- noun One of the heavy planks or strakes extending along the sides of a wooden ship.
- transitive verb To raise marks on (the skin), as by whipping.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A rod.
- noun A ridge or plank along the edge of a ship. Compare
gunwale . - noun A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position; a wale-piece.
- noun A wale-knot.
- noun A ridge in cloth, formed by a thread or a group of threads; hence, a stripe or strain implying quality.
- noun A streak or stripe produced on the skin by the stroke of a rod or whip.
- noun A tumor, or large swelling.
- To mark with wales or stripes.
- To weave or make the web of, as a gabion, with more than two rods at a time.
- noun A picking or choosing; the choice; the pick or pink of anything; the best.
- To seek; choose; select; court; woo.
- noun In wood ship-building, one of the strakes of heavy outside planking above the turn of the bilge. In wooden war-ships, the main wales extended from the lower gun-port sills to the bottom plank, the middle wales between the main-deck ports and the gun-deck ports, and the channel wales, sometimes called
strings , between the spar- and main-deck ports. Seebend , 3 . - noun An obsolete form of
weal . - Specifically, to sort or pick (coal) by hand at the mine or breaker.
- Choice; good; excellent.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A streak or mark made on the skin by a rod or whip; a stripe; a wheal. See
Wheal . - noun A ridge or streak rising above the surface, as of cloth; hence, the texture of cloth.
- noun (Carp.) A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.
- noun Certain sets or strakes of the outside planking of a vessel
- noun A wale knot, or wall knot.
- noun (Naut.) See Wall knot, under 1st
Wall . - transitive verb To mark with wales, or stripes.
- transitive verb Prov. Eng. & Scot. To choose; to select; specifically (Mining), to pick out the refuse of (coal) by hand, in order to clean it.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Something selected as being the best,
preference ;choice . - verb to
choose ,select . - noun A
ridge or low barrier. - noun A raised
rib in knit goods orfabric , especiallycorduroy . (As opposed tocourse ) - noun The
texture of a piece of fabric. - noun nautical A
horizontal ridge or ledge on the outsideplanking of a woodenship . (Seegunwale ,chainwale ) - noun A horizontal
timber used forsupporting orretaining earth. - noun A ridge on the outside of a horse
collar . - noun A ridge or streak produced on skin by a
cane orwhip . - verb To
strike theskin in such a way as to produce a wale. - verb To give a
surface atexture of wales.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun thick plank forming a ridge along the side of a wooden ship
- noun a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The club's mascot is a whale, a reference to the term "wale," the ridge in corduroy.
Reading Between the Lines, This Is a Big Date for Corduroy Fans Sarah E. Needleman 2011
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"Believer" off the album white label wale vs. x-men: the animated series off the album songs for christmas: vol. II: hark!
Adam Riff™ 2009
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One member was stationed at the door of the party and took note of the kind of wale, which is the raised portion of corduroy, that people were wearing.
The Double Life is Twice as Good Jonathan Ames 2009
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One member was stationed at the door of the party and took note of the kind of wale, which is the raised portion of corduroy, that people were wearing.
The Double Life is Twice as Good Jonathan Ames 2009
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There is no 'wale' of saints in this country, "said the father of Elliot;" and as this Pucelle of Lorraine must needs pass by us here, if she is still on the way, even tell us all your tale. "
A Monk of Fife Andrew Lang 1878
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Serikali imeshaanza kugharimia gharama za mazishi kwa watu waliokufa katika ajali hii, na itaangalia jinsi ya kuwapa pole wale waliofiwa ili kupunguza makali ya maisha na kuwasaidia waliopata ulemavu kwa matibabu na vifaa …
Global Voices in English » Tanzania: Dar es Salaam Armoury Explosion Death Toll Rises 2009
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To the ladies who live where it is cold - there is very nice fine-wale corduroy available, sometimes in prints too.
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"Whale butt" ... hahaha, I completely agree, but then wale butts seem to be en vogue now, don't they?
Modest Feminine Dress From the Pages of 1990 Victoria Magazine 2009
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We must've looked like freaks to people who had never seen a hacking jacket or wide-wale corduroys with lobsters embroidered on them.
Christian Chensvold: Preppy Evangelist: The Lisa Birnbach Interview 2010
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From nowhere, a wale erupted from inside him, as if the pain of what he had endured, and the deepest part of his grief around the loss of his mother, had suddenly released itself after more than 30 years.
Mike Schwager: Remembering My Father: His Greatest Lesson to Me Was His Life 2010
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