What does hailing mean?
Hailing most often means calling out to someone to attract attention, as when hailing a taxi, a passing boat, or a friend. It can also mean greeting, saluting, or praising someone enthusiastically, especially in a public or ceremonial setting. The related weather sense describes hail falling from the sky. As an adjective, hailing characterizes an excited crowd or a person enthusiastically offering greetings and praise. The noun is mainly a verbal noun denoting the act of hailing and is usually encountered in formal or specialized writing. Hailing is useful because it captures both practical signals and expressions of public enthusiasm. It also has an interesting dual history: English distinguishes the greeting sense and the hailstorm sense, yet their development is connected to the same older Germanic word family.
To greet, call out to, or enthusiastically acclaim someone; to fall as hail.
"They spent the afternoon hailing ships passing the harbor."
The weather sense is less frequent in everyday discussion than the greeting sense.
Actively or enthusiastically greeting, saluting, or acclaiming.
"A hailing crowd welcomed the winners into the stadium."
This attributive use is especially common of crowds and groups.
The act of calling out to, greeting, saluting, or acclaiming someone.
"Her repeated hailing of passing boats echoed across the water."
The noun is uncommon and is normally encountered in formal or specialized writing.
The noun is normally treated as an uncountable verbal noun; the plural is possible but uncommon.
"The successive hailings from the shore grew louder."
From a friendly hail to a hailstorm, the same word can mean both a greeting and a shower of ice—hail the taxi, and hope it is only the latter.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does hailing come from?
The greeting sense of hail comes from Old English hælgian, a word associated with hæl, meaning “whole” or “healthy,” and with the related words hale, health, and heal. The hailstone sense has its own Old English history but belongs to the same broader Germanic word family. The modern form hailing developed as the present participle of both uses.
Related word forms
How hailing is actually used
Hailing is usually a participle in progressive or adjectival constructions. The greeting sense may sound practical, as when hailing a taxi, or ceremonial when used for public acclamation. For the precipitation sense, British English often has the pronunciation /ˈhɔːlɪŋ/, while American English commonly uses /ˈheɪlɪŋ/.
Easily confused with hailing
Hailing involves calling out, greeting, or acclaiming, whereas healing involves restoring someone or something to health.