hale and hearty

English

Alternative forms

• hale and hardy

Pronunciation

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Adjective

hale and hearty (comparative more hale and hearty, superlative most hale and hearty)

1. (idiomatic) In a state of robust good health.
   • 1869 November 27, “Pretenders”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, page 613:

     He was a hale and hearty man at that time, and remained hale and hearty for many years afterwards; so hale and hearty, that in the year 1798, being then turned seventy-eight, and having lived in America ten years, he married a young woman of Scottish extraction

   • 1997, Arthur March, Franconia and Sugar Hill‎^[1], page n.a.:

     Three of the four are hale and hearty today, and it is doubtful they have forgotten a single detail of that event.

2. (idiomatic, nutrition) Conducive to robust good health.

   This is a hale and hearty dish, filled with beef, potatoes and carrots.

Derived terms

• hale and heartily
• hale and heartiness