weal


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Related to weal: public weal

weal 1

 (wēl)
n.
1. Prosperity; happiness: in weal and woe.
2. The welfare of the community; the general good: the public weal.

[Middle English wele, from Old English wela; see wel- in Indo-European roots.]

weal 2

 (wēl)
n.
A ridge on the flesh raised by a blow; a welt.

[Alteration (influenced by wheal) of wale.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

weal

(wiːl)
n
(Pathology) a raised mark on the surface of the body produced by a blow. Also called: wale, welt or wheal
[C19: variant of wale1, influenced in form by wheal]

weal

(wiːl)
n
1. archaic prosperity or wellbeing (now esp in the phrases the public weal, the common weal)
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) obsolete the state
3. (Banking & Finance) obsolete wealth
[Old English wela; related to Old Saxon welo, Old High German wolo]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

weal1

(wil)

n.
1. well-being, prosperity, or happiness: the public weal.
2. Obs. wealth or riches.
3. Obs. the body politic; the state.
[before 900; Middle English wele, Old English wela; akin to well1]

weal2

(wil)

n.
[variant of wale, with ea of wheal]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.weal - a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions
harm, hurt, injury, trauma - any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

weal

noun mark, scar, welt, ridge, streak, stripe, wheal, wale, contusion the red weals left across his chest by the whip
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

weal 1

noun
A state of health, happiness, and prospering:

weal 2

noun
A ridge or bump raised on the flesh, as by a lash or blow:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

weal

1 [wiːl] N (esp Brit) (= wound) → verdugón m

weal

2 (archaic) [wiːl] N (= well-being) → bienestar m
the common wealel bien común
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

weal

[ˈwiːl] n (British) (= welt) → marque f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

weal

1
n (liter)Wohl nt; the common/public wealdas allgemeine/öffentliche Wohl, das Allgemeinwohl; weal and woeWohl und Wehe nt

weal

2
n (= welt)Striemen m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

weal

[wiːl] n (welt) → piaga
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
"How sweet she is- she will be a weal beauty!" said Denisov.
Hither to work us weal; Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel!
I TAKE goodness in this sense, the affecting of the weal of men, which is that the Grecians call philanthropia; and the word humanity (as it is used) is a little too light to express it.
They're all made o' them noble animals," says he, a-pointin' to a wery nice little tabby kitten, "and I seasons 'em for beefsteak, weal or kidney, 'cording to the demand.
The scheme of separate confederacies, which will always nultiply the chances of ambition, will be a never failing bait to all such influential characters in the State administrations as are capable of preferring their own emolument and advancement to the public weal. With so effectual a weapon in their hands as the exclusive power of regulating elections for the national government, a combination of a few such men, in a few of the most considerable States, where the temptation will always be the strongest, might accomplish the destruction of the Union, by seizing the opportunity of some casual dissatisfaction among the people (and which perhaps they may themselves have excited), to discontinue the choice of members for the federal House of Representatives.
So man's insanity is heaven's sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God.
"Shall I, or shall I not (come weal, come woe) take myself off?" was my thought as I waited there.
Our difference of opinion amounts to this, that you make the mainspring self-interest, while I suppose that interest in the common weal is bound to exist in every man of a certain degree of advancement.
ISMENE Thy country (so it runs) shall yearn in time To have thee for their weal alive or dead.
CHORUS Our pity, Oedipus, thou needs must move, Thou and these maidens; and the stronger plea Thou urgest, as the savior of our land, Disposes me to counsel for thy weal.
'The old woman took kindly to the blits; they enchant Dulcinea, and whip me in order to disenchant her; Altisidora dies of ailments God was pleased to send her, and to bring her to life again they must give me four-and-twenty smacks, and prick holes in my body with pins, and raise weals on my arms with pinches!
To judge from the weals which he counted, their number, he said, amounted to forty-one; but at last, in order, as he declared, not to be less generous than his Highness the Stadtholder, he consented to make his peace.