Definition of "hale"

His stomach too begins to fail: / Last year we thought him strong and hale; / But now he's quite another thing: / I wish he may hold out till spring!

1731 November (date written), Jonathan Swift, “On the Death of Dr. Swift”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, page 126

"Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn." / "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"

1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […]

Then let them vale a bonet of their proud ſayle, / And of their taunting toies reſt with il hayle.

c. 1515–1516 (date written; published 1568), John Skelton, “Against Venemous Tongues Enpoysoned with Sclaunder and False Detractions, &c.”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843

Eftſoones all heedleſſe of his deareſt hale, / Full greedily into the heard he thruſt: / To ſlaughter them, and vvorke their finall bale, / Leaſt that his toyle ſhould of their troups be bruſt.

1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “Astrophel. A Pastoral Elegie vpon the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney.”, in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, signature F2, recto

For I had beene vilely hurried and haled by those poore men, which had taken the paines to carry me upon their armes a long and wearysome way, and to say truth, they had all beene wearied twice or thrice over, and were faine to shift severall times.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 6, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]

A ſpacious Breach we make, and Troy’s proud Wall / Built by the Gods, by our own hands doth fall; / Thus, all their help to their own Ruin give, / Some draw with Cords, and ſome the Monſter drive / With Rolls and Leavers, thus our Works it climbs, / Big with our Fate, the Youth with Songs and Rhimes, / Some dance, ſome hale the Rope; at laſt let down / It enters with a thund’ring Noiſe the Town.

1636, John Denham, “The Destruction of Troy, an Essay on the Second Book of Virgil’s Æneis. Written in the Year 1636.”, in Poems and Translations; with the Sophy, a Tragedy, 5th edition, London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], published 1709, page 38

The wingless, crawling hours, one among whom / —As some dark Priest hales the reluctant victim— / Shall drag thee, cruel King, to kiss the blood / From these pale feet, which then might trample thee / If they disdained not such a prostrate slave.

1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, Act I, scene i, page 21

By night we dragg'd her to the college tower / From her warm bed, and up the corkscrew stair / With hand and rope we haled the groaning sow, / And on the leads we kept her till she pigg'd.

1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Walking to the Mail”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 51

He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. [...] But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again her partner was haled off with a frightened look to the royal circle, [...]

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, page 9

The Wanderlust has lured me to the seven lonely seas, / Has dumped me on the tailing-piles of dearth; / The Wanderlust has haled me from the morris chairs of ease, / Has hurled me to the ends of all the earth.

1912, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Wanderlust”, in Rhymes of a Rolling Stone, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, stanza 1, page 123

They will hale the King to Paris, and have him under their eye.

1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 262