Hail Mary

Hail Mary noun: a prayer, of established or conventional wording, calling for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

Noun

Hail Mary (plural Hail Marys or Hail Maries)

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
- And if I say ten Hail Marys / Leave a light on in Heaven for me1987, Gary Clark, “Mary's Prayer”, performed by Danny Wilson
Synonyms:

angelic salutation, ave, Ave Maria
(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
- There are hundreds of plays and combinations, plus a great two-player mode. This guide should tell you which plays work best and when to use them. Grab a hot-dog and take to the stands for a few Hail Marys followed by a quick Toss and Pass.1993, Carl Rowley, “John Madden ’93”, in Official Sega Genesis Power Tips Book, volume 2, Rocklin, Calif.: Prima Publishing, →ISBN, page 46

Hail Mary (third-person singular simple present Hail Marys, present participle Hail Marying, simple past and past participle Hail Maryed)

(often, reflexive) To pray by saying a Hail Mary.
- He Hail Maryed himself to sleep every night and woke up Hail Marying in the morning, and to his amazement and delight it worked.2003, Ray Cranley, Chip Chop Cherry, →ISBN, page 120
- Sister Cecilia Hail Maryed herself and slid back in the room.2015, Pamela DuMond, The Assassin

Silk Road was, in some sense, a last heave—a Hail Mary in the parlance of Ross's football-mad hometown.2015, Nathaniel Popper, chapter 6, in Digital Gold, 1st edition, New York: Harper, →ISBN, →OCLC:
Trump administration files Hail Mary appeal to derail youth climate lawsuit [title]2017 June 13, Natasha Geiling, “Trump administration files Hail Mary appeal to derail youth climate lawsuit”, in ThinkProgress:
SoundCloud finally secured a Hail Mary deal that included $170 million of new funding from the Raine Group and Singapore’s Temasek in August of 2017.2018 February 23, Janko Roettgers, “Twitter’s Annual Report Reveals That Its $70 Million SoundCloud Investment Was a Bust”, in Variety:
“I guess this is what might be considered a Hail Mary.”2020 August 30, Ernesto Londoño, quoting Rudy Gonsior, “‘A Hail Mary’: Psychedelic Therapy Draws Veterans to Jungle Retreats”, in The New...

Noun
plural	Hail Marys
plural	Hail Maries
Verb
third-person singular present	Hail Marys
present participle	Hail Marying
past participle	Hail Maryed
past	Hail Maryed

From Middle English Heil Marie. The extended figurative sense alludes to the notion of saying a prayer that the action will succeed.

What does Hail Mary mean?: Hail Mary means a prayer, of established or conventional wording, calling for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
What is Hail Mary in Tagalog?: Hail Mary in Tagalog is Aba Ginoong Maria. See Hail Mary meaning in Tagalog.
How do you use Hail Mary in a sentence?: Silk Road was, in some sense, a last heave—a Hail Mary in the parlance of Ross's football-mad hometown.
What part of speech is Hail Mary?: Hail Mary can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of Hail Mary?: The plural of Hail Mary is Hail Marys.

Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Hail Mary.wav.

Cite this entry: “Hail Mary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hail_mary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.