hail
n. uncountablen. small balls of ice that fall from the sky like rain. You usually see this during a storm when the air is very cold.
n. precipitation in the form of small, hard pellets of ice. It occurs when strong updrafts in thunderstorms carry water droplets into extremely cold layers of the atmosphere.
The hail damaged several cars in the parking lot.
A sudden storm brought heavy hail that flattened the wheat in the fields within minutes.
The roof's integrity was compromised after a relentless barrage of hail, with some stones measuring several centimetres in diameter, battered the shingles.
From Middle English hayle, haile, hail, hawel, haghil, haȝel, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, hagol (“hail”), from Proto-West Germanic hagl, from Proto-Germanic haglaz, of uncertain origin. Either from Proto-Indo-European kagʰlos (“pebble”); or alternatively from ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (“cold”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hail (“hail”), West Frisian heil (“hail”), Dutch hagel (“hail”), Low German Hagel (“hail”), German Hagel (“hail”), Danish hagl (“hail”), Swedish hagel (“hail”), Icelandic hagl (“hail”). Compare also Old Norse héla (“frost”). Doublet of haglaz, if the second etymology (“cold”) is correct. Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Ancient Greek κάχληξ (kákhlēx, “pebble”), or alternatively Sanskrit शिशिर (śíśira, “cool, cold”), possibly also Lithuanian šešėlis (“shade, shadow”), depending on the etymology.
From Middle English haylen, haulien, hawelien, from Old English hagolian, hagalian (“to hail”), from Proto-West Germanic haglōn, from Proto-Germanic haglōną (“to hail”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with Saterland Frisian hailje (“to hail”), West Frisian heilje (“to hail”), Dutch hagelen (“to hail”), German Low German hageln (“to hail”), German hageln (“to hail”), Danish hagle (“to hail”), Swedish hagla (“to hail”), Norwegian Nynorsk hagle, hagla (“to hail”), Faroese hegla (“to hail”), Icelandic hagla (“to hail”).
From Middle English heil (“healthy, sound”), from Old Norse heill, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, entire, healthy”). The verb is from Middle English heilen, itself from the adjective. Doublet of whole, hale, and heil.
Uncountable when referring to the weather phenomenon; can be used metaphorically with 'of' to describe a large number of things thrown or directed at someone.