Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Wale

Wale , noun

[Anglo-Saxon walu a mark of stripes or blows, probably originally, a rod; akin to Icelandic volr, Gothic walus a rod, staff. r146. Compare Goal, Weal a wale.]

1.
A streak or mark made on the skin by a rod or whip; a stripe; a wheal. See Wheal. — Holland
2.
A ridge or streak rising above the surface, as of cloth; hence, the texture of cloth.
Thou 'rt rougher far, And of a coarser wale, fuller of pride. — Beau. & Fl
3.
(Carpentry) A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position. — Knight
4.
(a) (Nautical) Certain sets or strakes of the outside planking of a vessel; as, the main wales, or the strakes of planking under the port sills of the gun deck; channel wales, or those along the spar deck, etc.
(b)
(Nautical) A wale knot, or wall knot.
Collocations (1)
Wale knot (Nautical) , See Wall knot, under 1st Wall.

Wale , transitive verb

1.
To mark with wales, or stripes.
2.
(Mining) To choose; to select; specifically (Mining), to pick out the refuse of (coal) by hand, in order to clean it. [Provincial English & Scottish]