Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GALE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 398 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

GALE . 1. (A word of obscure origin; possibly derived from See also:

Dan. gal, mad or furious, sometimes applied to See also:wind, in the sense of boisterous) a wind of considerable See also:power, considerably stronger than a See also:breeze, but not severe enough to be called a See also:storm. In nautical See also:language it is usually combined with some qualifying word, as " See also:half a gale," a " stiff gale." In poetical and figurative language " gale " is often used in a pleasant sense, as in " favouring gale"; in See also:America, it is used in a See also:slang sense for boisterous or excited behaviour. 2. The See also:payment of See also:rent, customs or See also:duty at See also:regular intervals; a " See also:hanging gale " is an arrear of rent See also:left over after each successive " gale " or rent See also:day. The See also:term survives in the See also:Forest of See also:Dean, for leases granted to the " See also:free miners " of the forest, granted by the " gaveller " or See also:agent of the See also:crown, and the term is also applied to the See also:royalty paid to the crown, and to the See also:area See also:mined. The word is a contracted See also:form of the O. Eng. gafol, which survives in " gavel," in See also:gavelkind (q.v.), and in the name of the See also:office mentioned above. The See also:root from which these words derive is that of " give." Through Latinized forms it appears in gabeile (q.v.). 3. The popular name of a plant, also known as the sweet gale or See also:gaul, sweet See also:willow, See also:bog or Dutch See also:myrtle.

The Old See also:

English form of the word is gagel. It is a small, twiggy, resinous fragrant See also:shrub found on bogs and See also:moors in the See also:British Islands, and widely distributed in the See also:north temperate See also:zone. It has narrow, See also:short-stalked leaves and inconspicuous, apetalous, unisexual See also:flowers See also:borne in short spikes. The small drupe-like See also:fruit is attached to the persistent bracts. The leaves are used as See also:tea and as a See also:country See also:medicine. See also:John See also:Gerard (Herball, p. 1228) describes it as sweet willow or gaule, and refers to its use in See also:beer or See also:ale. The genus Myrica is the type of a small, but widely distributed See also:order, Myricaceae, which is placed among the apetalous families of See also:Dicotyledons, and is perhaps most nearly allied to the willow See also:family. Myrica cerifera is the candleberry, See also:wax-myrtle or wax-See also:tree (q.v.).

End of Article: GALE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
GALCHAS 		[next]
GALE, THEOPHILUS (1628-1678)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries