Word.ws English Dictionary

Hail Maries

Hail Maries is the plural of Hail Mary.

Meaning of Hail Mary

Noun

Hail Mary (plural Hail Marys or Hail Maries)

  1. A prayer, of established or conventional wording, calling for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
    • “What did the priest, and all of you, keep on saying when we first went in?” / “Our Fathers, Hail Maries, and Glorias; couldn’t you hear?” asked Emily, laughing. / “No, I should think not, you rattled on so fast- What are Hail Maries and Glorias?” / “The Gloria you know well enough, my dear...1872, F. A., chapter V, in Marion Howard; or Trials and Triumphs, Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham, […], page 100
  2. (US, attributive, figuratively, usually) A risky last-ditch effort with great benefit but little chance of success; one whose success would require divine intervention; a Hail Mary pass.
    • Hail Mary deal

See all 3 meanings of Hail Mary

Questions about Hail Maries

What is Hail Maries the plural of?
Hail Maries is the plural of Hail Mary.

Words near Hail Maries in the dictionary

  1. hail and ride
  2. hail down
  3. hail fellow well met
  4. hail fellows well met
  5. hail from
  6. Hail Maries
  7. Hail Mary
  8. Hail Mary bead
  9. Hail Mary pass
  10. Hail Mary passes
  11. Hail Maryed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Hail Maries (page history and authors); Hail Mary (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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