Primary
''peal'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260817185222-00-⌔
peal - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
peal (plural peals)
- A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, laughter, of a multitude, etc.
- ✤ Whether thoſe peales of praiſe be his or no.1
- ✤ a fair peal of artillery2
- ✤ and the deep thunder, peal on peal, afar3
- ✤ Mrs. Green burst out into one of those peals so peculiarly British.4
- ✤ And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks, I could not help joining; and we laughed together, peal after peal […]5
- ✤ And she has half a mind to weep again now, for Jack Brotherhood, as the front doorbell sounds through the house like a bugle call, three short peals as ever.6
- (collective) A set of bells tuned to each other according to the diatonic scale.
- ✤ Ingulphus, the chronicler of Croyland Abbey, mentions that a peal of seven bells was put up there in the tenth century, and that there was not such a harmonious peal in the whole of England; which implies that rings of bells were then common.7
- The changes rung on a set of bells; in the strict sense a full peal of at least 5040 changes.
Verb
peal (third-person singular simple present peals, present participle pealing, simple past and past participle pealed)
- (intransitive) To sound with a peal or peals.
- (transitive) To utter or sound loudly.
- ✤ The warrior’s name,/Though pealed and chimed on all the tongues of fame.11
- (transitive) To assail with noise.
- ✤ Nor was his ear less pealed.12
- (intransitive) To resound; to echo.
- ✤ And the whole air pealed/With the cheers of our men.13
- (obsolete) To appeal.
- ✤ To A baron of chekker þay mun hit pele’.14
Noun
peal (plural peals)
- A small salmon; a grilse; a sewin.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /piːl/
- Audio (Southern England): 🔊
- Homophone: peel
- Rhymes: -iːl
Etymology 1
From Middle English pele, peil, probably an apheretic variant of Middle English apel, appel, from Old French apel (“an appeal; pealing of bells”). Compare appeal.
Etymology 2
Uncertain.
Printed 2026-08-17.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Link to original Footnotes
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 174, column 2: ↩
a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC: ↩
1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F] or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXV: ↩
1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XVI, in Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 112: ↩
1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC: ↩
1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy: ↩
1908, H. B. Walters, chapter 1, in Church Bells : ↩
1864, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christmas Bells: ↩
1939 [1905], “In My Merry Oldsmobile”, Vincent P. Bryan (lyrics), Gus Edwards (music), performed by Bing Crosby: ↩
2006 September 11, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Bush Mourns 9/11 at Ground Zero as N.Y. Remembers”, in The New York Times , →ISSN: ↩
1807, Joel Barlow, The Columbiad: ↩
1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a] nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a] nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC: ↩
1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Cumberland: ↩
c. 1450, The Boke of Curtasye: ↩
Secondary
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