hallow

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æləʊ
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhæləʊ/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhæloʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɒləʊ
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑloʊ/
  • Homophone: hollow

Etymology 1

From Middle English halwe (“a saint, holy thing, shrine”), from Old English hālga (“a holy one, saint”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagô (“holy one”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóylos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots halow, hallow (“saint”), German Heilige (“saint”). More at holy, whole.

Noun

hallow (plural hallows)

1. (obsolete outside set phrases) A saint; a holy person; an apostle.

   All Hallows Eve (or Halloween), the night before All Hallows Day (now more commonly known as "All Saints Day").

Derived terms

• All Hallows
• Hallow-day
• hallowdom
• hallowed
• Halloween, Hallow-eve
• Hallow-fair
• Hallowmas, Hallowmass
• Hallow-tide

Translations

holy person

• Bulgarian: светец (bg) m (svetec)
• Danish: helgen c
• Dutch: heiligen (nl)
• Finnish: pyhä (fi), pyhimys (fi)
• French: saint (fr) m, sainte (fr) f
• German: Heiliger (de) m, Heilige (de) f
• Italian: santo (it) m, santa (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: helgen (no) m

  Nynorsk: helgen m

• Portuguese: santo (pt) m, santa (pt) f
• Russian: свято́й (ru) (svjatój)
• Serbo-Croatian: светац m (svetac)
• Spanish: santo (es) m, santa (es) f
• Volapük: (♂♀) saludan (vo), (♂) hisaludan (vo), (♀) jisaludan (vo)

Etymology 2

From Middle English halwen (“to hallow, sanctify”), from Old English hālgian (“to hallow, sanctify, make holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagōną (“to make holy”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóylos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Dutch heiligen (“to hallow”), German heiligen (“to hallow”). More at holy.

Verb

hallow (third-person singular simple present hallows, present participle hallowing, simple past and past participle hallowed)

1. (transitive) To make holy, to sanctify.
   • c 1599, William Shakespeare, s:The Life of Henry the Fifth, Act 1, Scene II

     ...I am coming on, to venge me as I may and to put forth my rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.

   • 1847, Charles Swain, Dramatic Chapters: Poems and Songs, D. Bogue, pages 324:

     Come hallow the goblet with something more true / Than words we forget in a minute.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:consecrate

Translations

to sanctify

• Bulgarian: освещавам (bg) (osveštavam)
• Danish: hellige, helliggøre
• Dutch: heiligen (nl)
• Finnish: pyhittää
• French: sanctifier (fr), bénir (fr)
• German: heiligen (de), heilig machen, sanktifizieren, weihen (de)
• Hungarian: szentesít (hu)
• Italian: santificare (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hellige, gjøre hellig

  Nynorsk: heilage, helge, gjere heilag

• Old Norse: helga
• Polish: święcić (pl), poświęcać (pl)
• Portuguese: santificar (pt)
• Russian: освяща́ть (ru) (osvjaščátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: naomhaich
• Spanish: santificar (es)
• Swedish: helga (sv)
• Tok Pisin: tambuim
• Volapük: saludükön (vo)

Etymology 3

From Middle English halowen, from halow (interjection), from Old English ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”, interjection), probably conflated with Old French halloer.

Alternative forms

• halow, alow, a lo (obsolete)
• hallo, hollo

Verb

hallow (third-person singular simple present hallows, present participle hallowing, simple past and past participle hallowed)

1. To shout, especially to urge on dogs for hunting.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IV, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume III, London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book VII:

     […] for the conversation (if it may be called so) was seldom such as could entertain a lady. It consisted chiefly of hallowing, singing, relations of sporting adventures, b—d—y, and abuse of women, and of the government.

Noun

hallow (plural hallows)

1. A shout, cry; a hulloo.
   • 1777, Robin Hood's Chase, reprinted in
     2003, Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Courier Dover Publications, →ISBN, page 206:

     Then away they went from merry Sherwood / And into Yorkshire he did hie / And the King did follow, with a hoop and a hallow / But could not come him nigh.

   • 1772, William Read Staples, The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee, Knowles, Vose, and Anthony, published 1845, pages 14:

     I told them, the sherriff could not be admitted on board this time of night, on which they set up a hallow and rowed as fast as they could towards the vessel's bows.

Etymology 4

Adjective

hallow (comparative more hallow, superlative most hallow)

1. Alternative spelling of hollow
   • 1902, National Council of Geography Teachers (U.S.), The Journal of Geography, National Council for Geographic Education, page 93:

     If the sun were a hallow sphere of its present size and the earth were placed at the center, the moon could [...]. Such a hallow sphere would hold more than a million balls the size of the earth.

   • 2003, George A. Lyall, To a Different Drummer: A Family's Story, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, pages 208:

     But it was not a hallow victory.