hallow
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English halwe (“a saint, holy thing, shrine”), from Old English hālga (“a holy one, saint”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagô (“holy one”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots halow, hallow (“saint”), German Heilige (“saint”). More at holy, whole.
Noun edit
hallow (plural hallows)
- (obsolete outside set phrases) A saint; a holy person; an apostle.
- All Hallows Eve (or Halloween), the night before All Hallows Day (now more commonly known as "All Saints Day").
- (obsolete, in the plural) The relics or shrines of saints or non-Christian gods.
- To seek hallows: to visit relics or shrines, in the belief that the saints themselves are present there.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
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Etymology 2 edit
From Middle English halwen (“to hallow, sanctify”), from Old English hālgian (“to hallow, sanctify, make holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagōną (“to make holy”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Dutch heiligen (“to hallow”), German heiligen (“to hallow”). More at holy.
Verb edit
hallow (third-person singular simple present hallows, present participle hallowing, simple past and past participle hallowed)
- (transitive) To make holy, to sanctify.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- […] I am coming on, to venge me as I may and to put forth my rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.
- 1847, Charles Swain, Dramatic Chapters: Poems and Songs, D. Bogue, page 324:
- Come hallow the goblet with something more true / Than words we forget in a minute.
Synonyms edit
- See also Thesaurus:consecrate
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
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Etymology 3 edit
From Middle English halowen, from halow (interjection), from Old English ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”, interjection), probably conflated with Old French halloer.
Alternative forms edit
Verb edit
hallow (third-person singular simple present hallows, present participle hallowing, simple past and past participle hallowed)
- To shout, especially to urge on dogs for hunting.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IV, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:
- […] for the conversation (if it may be called so) was seldom such as could entertain a lady. It consisted chiefly of hallowing, singing, relations of sporting adventures, b—d—y, and abuse of women, and of the government.
Noun edit
hallow (plural hallows)
- A shout, cry; a hulloo.
- 1777, Robin Hood's Chase, reprinted in 2003, Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Courier Dover Publications, →ISBN, page 206:
- Then away they went from merry Sherwood / And into Yorkshire he did hie / And the King did follow, with a hoop and a hallow / But could not come him nigh.
- 1772, William Read Staples, The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee, Knowles, Vose, and Anthony, published 1845, page 14:
- I told them, the sherriff could not be admitted on board this time of night, on which they set up a hallow and rowed as fast as they could towards the vessel's bows.
- 1777, Robin Hood's Chase, reprinted in
Etymology 4 edit
Adjective edit
hallow (comparative more hallow, superlative most hallow)
- Alternative spelling of hollow
- 1902, National Council of Geography Teachers (U.S.), The Journal of Geography, National Council for Geographic Education, page 93:
- If the sun were a hallow sphere of its present size and the earth were placed at the center[...]. Such a hallow sphere would hold more than a million balls the size of the earth.
- 2003, George A. Lyall, To a Different Drummer: A Family's Story, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 208:
- But it was not a hallow victory.