wale
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪl/
ipa: [ˈweɪɫ]
rhymes: -eɪl
homophone: wail
homophone: whale (wine–whine merger)
Forms: form: wales
Etymology: 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.
Senses: glosses: A ridge or low barrier.
examples: text: Most twills are continuous—the wale goes from one corner to the one diagonally opposite. Pattern, however, can be achieved by periodically changing the direction of the wales.
ref: 1979, Kax Wilson, A History of Textiles, Westview Press, →ISBN, pages 66-67:
text: I have woven a small sample of striped corduroy shown here. […] The stripe draws the eye from side to side while the wales draw the eye up and down.
ref: 1990, Sharon Alderman, A Handweaver's Notebook, →ISBN, page 50:
text: 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).
ref: 2008, Mary Lisa Gavenas, The Fairchild Encyclopedia of Menswear, page 99:
coordinate_terms: course
glosses: A raised rib in knitted goods or fabric, especially corduroy.
examples: text: Crepon cloths, with their heavy crape-like wale, are a noteworthy part of the season's importations.
ref: 1892, “Family Fashions and Fancies”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 14, page 85:
glosses: The texture of a piece of fabric.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1863, Andrew Murray, Ship-building in Iron and Wood, page 93:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship. (See gunwale, chainwale)
examples: text: A few feet below the first wale another timber is inserted, likewise secured by struts.
ref: 1889 February 23, Architecture and Building: A Journal of Investment and Construction, volume 10, page 63:
glosses: A horizontal timber used for supporting or retaining earth.
examples: text: Except Plank upon the Head of the Key, and under the upper Wale, and Plank to join the piles.
ref: 1754, Thomas Gardner, An Historical Account of Dunwich […] :
glosses: A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1976, Ralph Whitlock, Gentle giants: the past, present and future of the heavy horse, page 133:
glosses: A ridge on the outside of a horse collar.
examples: text: Shall then that foule infamous Cyneds hide Laugh at the purple wales of others side?
ref: 1597, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in Virgidemiarum, Sixe Bookes. First Three Bookes, of Tooth-lesse Satyrs. […], London: […] Thomas Creede, for Robert Dexter, →OCLC:
text: 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."
ref: 1854, S. W. Koelle, African Native Literature, Or Proverbs, Tales, Fables and Historical in the Kanuri Or Bornu Language:
text: I ran to her, and when I reached her I saw across the white skin of her shoulders the distinct wale of a whip.
ref: 2018, Seabury Quinn, The Dark Angel: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Three:
glosses: A ridge or streak produced on skin by a cane or whip.
Related terms: waling