gale

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A very strong wind.

   It's blowing a gale outside, so close the windows.

2. 2
   noun

   A sudden burst, especially of laughter.

   Her joke set off a gale of laughter across the room.

From Middle English galen, from Old English galan (“to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream; sing charms, practice incantation”), from Proto-Germanic *galaną (“to roop, sing, charm”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shout, scream, charm away”). Cognate with Danish gale (“to crow”), Swedish gala (“to crow”), Icelandic gala (“to sing, chant, crow”), Dutch galm (“echo, sound, noise”). Related to yell.

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