Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Wale

Wale (wāl), n. [AS. walu a mark of stripes or blows, probably originally, a rod; akin to Icel. völr, Goth. walus a rod, staff. √146. Cf. Goal, Weal a wale.]

1. A streak or mark made on the skin by a rod or whip; a stripe; a wheal. See Wheal. Holland.

2. A ridge or streak rising above the surface, as of cloth; hence, the texture of cloth.

Thou 'rt rougher far, And of a coarser wale, fuller of pride. Beau & Fl.

3. (Carp.) A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position. Knight.

4. (Naut.) (a) pl. Certain sets or strakes of the outside planking of a vessel; as, the main wales, or the strakes of planking under the port sills of the gun deck; channel wales, or those along the spar deck, etc. (b) A wale knot, or wall knot.

Wale knot. (Naut.) See Wall knot, under 1st Wall.

Wale, v. t. 1. To mark with wales, or stripes.

2. To choose; to select; specifically (Mining), to pick out the refuse of (coal) by hand, in order to clean it. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.