gale

Related topics: Nature

gale /ɡeɪl/ noun [countableC]

1 DNa very strong wind 大风

a severe gale

一阵狂风

it’s blowing a gale British EnglishBrE (=it’s very windy) 风很大

► see thesaurus at wind

2 a gale/gales of laughter LAUGHa sudden loud sound of laughter 一阵/阵阵爆笑

The bar erupted into gales of laughter.

酒吧里爆发出阵阵哄笑。

n COLLOCATIONS

adjectives

a fierce gale (=a very strong wind)

The tree was blown down during a fierce gale in 1987.

a howling gale (=one that makes a lot of noise)

The ship was drifting towards the shore in a howling gale.

a severe/strong gale

Severe gales disrupted road and rail travel throughout Britain.

gale + NOUN

gale force (=a measurement showing that a wind is extremely strong)

The winds had increased to gale force.

verbs

a gale blows

It was a grey winter’s day with an Atlantic gale blowing.

it’s blowing a gale British EnglishBrE (=the wind is blowing very strongly)

It was blowing a gale last night.

Examples from the Corpus

gale• However, the weather may not be so good, and rain and gales are frequent.• Up there to starboard, the Bering Sea whipped by arctic gales into choppy swells.• Ridge, hip and gable tiles are commonly displaced by gales, causing accumulation of debris in gutters, valleys and junctions.• Heavy rain driven by gales predicted for last night was forecast to continue for much of today.• A howling gale and torrential rain lashed the windows.• Rain, fog and mist are the acceptable accoutrements of northern gales.• The fence was blown down in the gale last night.• The ship sank in the gale.• The autumn and winter gales had already begun.

Origin gale

(1500-1600) Perhaps from Norwegian galen “bad”

LDOCE Online

Chinese

Corpus