Make Your Point: GALE

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pronounce GALE:

GALE

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

Suzanne Collins picked some awesome names for her characters in The Hunger Games. Some are pretty straightforward; Peeta is a baker, and guess how long Glimmer survives in the arena? Others are delightfully rich in meaning. See if you can name these characters:

1. He's brimming with brute strength, and he's most at home in fields of wheat. He knows who to hurt and who to help. He's Th____.

2. She's neat, trim, tidy, sweet, gentle, and innocent. She's Pr__.

3. She's small, delicate, and good with medicinal plants; her tragic ending causes sorrow and regret. She's R__.

4. He's most at home outdoors in the fresh air; he's prone to bursts of laughter and anger; and he's strong and powerful—sometimes brutally so. He's the word we're checking out today!

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

We're not exactly sure where the word "gale" comes from; it might be from an Old English word meaning "to sing" or "to yell."

We've used it in English since the 1500s to mean "a very strong wind, especially on the sea."

In a figurative sense, gales of things, like gales of laughter, are very strong or loud bursts of them.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Most often a noun, the countable kind: "She leaned into the gale;" "We heard gales of laughter from their room."

Sometimes an adjective: "gale winds."

Other forms:

The plural is "gales."

how to use it:

"Gale" is a precise, exciting word. It's easy to understand and fun to say.

Pick it whenever you want to emphasize the speed and power with which some sound or sentiment arrived, or made itself heard or felt.

You might talk about gales of laughter, singing, protests, complaints, support, confidence, etc.

examples:

"It was very difficult to ignore the sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls... In a few hours he would be out on the Quidditch field, battling through that gale."
— J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 1999

"As Jo waved her hands and gave a sigh of rapture, the family went off into a gale of merriment."
— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, 1868

has this page helped you understand "gale"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "gale" without saying "gust" or "outburst."

try it out:

So far, we've focused on figurative gales, often "gales of laughter." But gales have a technical definition, too.

In the chart below, check out the lower right side, where I've added some arrows. They point to the technical descriptions of a "near gale," a "gale," and a "strong gale" on the Beaufort wind force scale:

(Source)

With this information in mind, talk about the last time you were at a noisy social event, and aim for precision as you describe what seemed to you like "near gales," "gales," and "strong gales" of noise.

Or, if you're not up for that—or if you avoid noisy social events at all costs—then talk about whether or not you think "Gale" is a perfect surname for Dorothy Gale, of Kansas: the one who gets carried by a tornado to the Land of Oz. Does her last name carry any irony, or any understatement or overstatement? If you're familiar with her story, could you explain her last name in terms of her own behavior, or her own personality?

(Source)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Make Your Point Before & After!

I’ll give you a clue, and you give me a verbal mashup including at least one word or phrase we've studied before.

For example, if I give you "It's someone who meets you at the library to join you in a state of deep, serious, often gloomy thoughtfulness," then you give me "brown study buddy." It's a mashup of "brown study" and "study buddy."

Try this one today: It's what you do when you've just gotten home from a crazy, exciting trip and, although your friends are eager to hear the full details, you quickly sum things up for them instead, not wanting to bore them with the long story.

To reveal the first two hints, highlight the hidden white text.

Hint 1: The number of words in this Before & After is... six.

Hint 2: The first word in this Before & After is... "(to) make."

Hint 3: Use this term.

To see the answer, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The near opposite of a GALE is

A. a ZEPHYR (a gentle wind or breeze).
B. a LACUNA (a gap, an empty space, a blank spot, or a missing part).
C. a PIPE DREAM (a hope or plan that's totally unrealistic, as if dreamed up while you were smoking).

2. A writer for the Guardian described the "gale of hype" around a video game's release, with _____.

A. frustration festering among the customer base as the secrecy continued
B. excitement building slowly over a year, reaching a fever pitch on release day
C. a burst of ecstasy among 5,000 convention attendees and millions more online

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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