hale

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a soldier of the American Revolution who was hanged as a spy by the British; his last words were supposed to have been `I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country' (1755-1776)
  2. noun United States astronomer who discovered that sunspots are associated with strong magnetic fields (1868-1938)
  3. noun prolific United States writer (1822-1909)

Etymology

From Northern Middle English hal, hale, variants of hole (“healthy; safe; whole”, whence whole), from Old English hāl, from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole; entire; healthy”). See whole for more.

In classic literature

Synonyms

Nathan Hale

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading