hail (1) — ONAD

hail1 /hāl, heɪl

▸ noun pellets of frozen rain which fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds:

rain and hail bounced on the tiled roof.

▪ [in singular] a large number of objects hurled forcefully through the air:

a hail of bullets.

▸ verb [no object]

1 (it hails, it is hailing, etc.) hail falls:

it hailed so hard we had to stop.

2 [with adverbial of direction] (of a large number of objects) fall or be hurled forcefully:

missiles and bombs hail down from the sky.

– ORIGIN Old English hagol, hægl (noun), hagalian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hagel and German Hagel.