wale

Etymology 1

The noun is from Middle English wāle (“planking, welt”), from Old English walu (“ridge, bank; rib, comb (of helmet); metal ridge on top of helmet; weal, mark of a blow”), from Proto-Germanic *waluz (“stick, root”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”). Akin to Low German wāle; Old Norse vala (“knuckle”). The verb is from late Middle English wālen, from the noun.

noun

1. A ridge or low barrier.
2. A raised rib in knitted goods or fabric, especially corduroy.
   Coordinate term: course
   The fabric may be further described according to the number of wales per inch: Corduroy known as fine wale, pin-wale, or needle wale has very thin wales (usually twelve or more per inch, i.e., the width of a pin), while wide wale corduroy has thicker wales (usually six or fewer per inch). 2008, Mary Lisa Gavenas, The Fairchild Encyclopedia of Menswear, page 99
3. The texture of a piece of fabric.
   Crepon cloths, with their heavy crape-like wale, are a noteworthy part of the season's importations. 1892, “Family Fashions and Fancies”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 14, page 85
4. (nautical) A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship. (See gunwale, chainwale)
   The strakes between the several ranges of ports, beginning from under the upper-deck ports of a three-decked ship in the royal navy, are called the channel wale, the middle wale, and the main wale. 1863, Andrew Murray, Ship-building in Iron and Wood, page 93
5. A horizontal timber used for supporting or retaining earth.
   A few feet below the first wale another timber is inserted, likewise secured by struts. 23 February 1889, Architecture and Building: A Journal of Investment and Construction, volume 10, page 63
6. A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.
   Except Plank upon the Head of the Key, and under the upper Wale, and Plank to join the piles. 1754, Thomas Gardner, An Historical Account of Dunwich[…]
7. A ridge on the outside of a horse collar.
   The wale is shaped to the size of the horse's neck, and then sewn together, with a flap, known as the 'barge', left free along one side. To this 'barge' the body of the collar is sewn. 1976, Ralph Whitlock, Gentle giants: the past, present and future of the heavy horse, page 133
8. A ridge or streak produced on skin by a cane or whip.
   Shall then that foule infamous Cyneds hide Laugh at the purple wales of others side?
   When the rat had looked at the toad's whole body, and not seen any wale of a stick, he said to the toad, "Brother toad, I have looked at thy whole body, and not seen any wale of a stick: thou art right." 1854, S. W. Koelle, African Native Literature, Or Proverbs, Tales, Fables and Historical in the Kanuri Or Bornu Language
   I ran to her, and when I reached her I saw across the white skin of her shoulders the distinct wale of a whip. 2018, Seabury Quinn, The Dark Angel: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Three

verb

1. To strike the skin in such a way as to produce a wale or welt.
   Would suffer his lazy rider to bestride his patie: back, with his hands and whip to wale his flesh, and with his heels to dig into his hungry bowels? 1832, Owen Felltham, Resolves, Divine, Moral, Political
2. To beat a person, especially as punishment or out of anger.
   When faced with an adulthood that offered few options, grinding poverty and marriage to a man who drank too much and came home to wale on his own family or...no beatings. 2002, Hal Rothman, Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century
3. To give a surface a texture of wales or welts.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wale, wal, from Old Norse val (“choice”), from Proto-Germanic *walą, *walō (“desire, choice”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, want”). Akin to Old Norse velja (“to choose”), Old High German wala "choice" (German Wahl "choice"), Old English willan (“to want”). More at will.

noun

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Something selected as being the best, preference; choice.

verb

1. (Scotland, Northern England) To choose, select.