GALE

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 398 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GAG-GEO

GALE . 1. (A word of obscure origin; possibly derived from Dan. gal, mad or furious, sometimes applied to wind, in the sense of boisterous) a wind of considerable power, considerably stronger than a breeze, but not severe enough to be called a

storm

. In nautical language it is usually combined with some qualifying word, as " half a gale," a " stiff gale." In poetical and figurative language " gale " is often used in a pleasant sense, as in " favouring gale"; in America, it is used in a

slang

SLANG

sense for boisterous or excited behaviour.
2. The payment of rent, customs or duty at

regular

REGULAR

intervals; a "

hanging

HANGING

gale " is an arrear of rent left over after each successive " gale " or rent day. The

term

TERM

survives in the Forest of Dean, for leases granted to the " free miners " of the forest, granted by the " gaveller " or agent of the crown, and the

term

TERM

is also applied to the royalty paid to the crown, and to the area

mined

MINED

. The word is a contracted form of the O. Eng. gafol, which survives in " gavel," in

gavelkind

GAVELKIND

(q.v.), and in the name of the office mentioned above. The 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 gaul, sweet willow, bog or Dutch myrtle. The Old

English

ENGLISH

form of the word is gagel. It is a small, twiggy, resinous fragrant shrub found on bogs and moors in the British Islands, and widely distributed in the north temperate zone. It has narrow, short-stalked leaves and inconspicuous, apetalous, unisexual

flowers

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

borne in short spikes. The small drupe-like fruit is attached to the persistent bracts. The leaves are used as tea and as a country

medicine

MEDICINE

. John Gerard (Herball, p. 1228) describes it as sweet willow or gaule, and refers to its use in beer or ale. The genus Myrica is the type of a small, but widely distributed order, Myricaceae, which is placed among the apetalous families of Dicotyledons, and is perhaps most nearly allied to the willow family. Myrica cerifera is the candleberry, wax-myrtle or wax-tree (q.v.).

End of Article: GALE

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/GAG_GEO/GALE.html">
GALE
</a>

(Previous)
GALCHAS

(Next)
GALE, THEOPHILUS (1628-1678)

	The JCSM Study Center	America's Christian Foundation	Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained	NKJV Web Hosting and Services
JCSM's Sermons, Debates and the Bible on MP3	The Online Christ-Centered Ministries	Do You Have A Web Site? Your Ad Could Be Here!	Seminary Notes and Papers	The Picturesque Photo Albums

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries was founded in 1997 and it exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email

GALE

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117
JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.