Word.ws English Dictionary

peal

/piːl/

peal noun: a loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, laughter, of a multitude, etc.

Noun (1)

peal (plural peals)

  1. A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, laughter, of a multitude, etc.
    • Whether thoſe peales of praiſe be his or no.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • a fair peal of artillerya. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC
  2. (collective) A set of bells tuned to each other according to the diatonic scale.
    • Ingulphus, the chronicler of Croyland Abbey, mentions that a peal of seven bells was put up there in the tenth century, and that there was not such a harmonious peal in the whole of England; which implies that rings of bells were then common.1908, H. B. Walters, chapter 1, in Church Bells
  3. The changes rung on a set of bells; in the strict sense a full peal of at least 5040 changes.

Verb

peal (third-person singular simple present peals, present participle pealing, simple past and past participle pealed)

  1. (intransitive) To sound with a peal or peals.
    • Then pealed the bells more loud and deep...1864, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christmas Bells
    • To the church we'll swiftly steal, then our wedding bells will peal, / You can go as far you like with me, in my merry Oldsmobile1939 [1905], “In My Merry Oldsmobile”, Vincent P. Bryan (lyrics), Gus Edwards (music), performed by Bing Crosby
  2. (transitive) To utter or sound loudly.
    • The warrior's name, / Though pealed and chimed on all the tongues of fame.1807, Joel Barlow, The Columbiad
  3. (transitive) To assail with noise.
    • Nor was his ear less pealed.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  4. (intransitive) To resound; to echo.
    • And the whole air pealed / With the cheers of our men.1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Cumberland
  5. (obsolete) To appeal.
    • To A baron of chekker þay mun hit pele'.c. 1450, The Boke of Curtasye

Noun (2)

peal (plural peals)

  1. A small salmon; a grilse; a sewin.

Proper noun capitalized: Peal

Peal (plural Peals)

  1. A surname.

peal meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

peal in Tamil

மணியோசை, முழங்கு, ஓசையெழுப்பு

peal in Urdu

peal, din
گڑگڑاہٹ gaṛagaṛāhaṭ

peal in Bengali

গম্ভীর ধ্বনি, নিনাদ

peal in Malayalam

ഇടിമുഴക്കം, വലിയ ഒച്ച, മുഴക്കം, ഉറക്കെയുള്ള മണിയടി
More languagesFewer languages
peal in Kannada
ಘಂಟಾನಾದ, ಘಂಟಾರವ, ಗಂಟೆಗಳ ನಾದ, ಮೊಳಗು
peal in Tagalog
dupikal, kalembang

Examples of peal in a sentence

  • and the deep thunder, peal on peal, afar1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXV:
  • Green burst out into one of those peals so peculiarly British.1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XVI, in Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC...
  • And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks, I could not help joining; and we laughed together, peal after peal[…]1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
  • And she has half a mind to weep again now, for Jack Brotherhood, as the front doorbell sounds through the house like a bugle call, three short peals as ever.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

All 17 example sentences with peal

Forms of peal

Noun
pluralpeals
alternative formpeel
Verb
third-person singular presentpeals
present participlepealing
past participlepealed
pastpealed
Proper noun
pluralPeals

Origin of peal

From Middle English pele, peil, probably an apheretic variant of Middle English apel, appel, from Old French apel (“an appeal; pealing of bells”). Compare appeal.

Uncertain.

Variant of Peel.

Words formed from peal

Words that rhyme with peal

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about peal

What does peal mean?
Peal means a loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, laughter, of a multitude, etc.
What is peal in Tamil?
Peal in Tamil is மணியோசை, முழங்கு, ஓசையெழுப்பு. See Peal meaning in Tamil.
How do you use peal in a sentence?
and the deep thunder, peal on peal, afar
What part of speech is peal?
Peal can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce peal?
Peal is pronounced /piːl/.
What is the plural of peal?
The plural of peal is peals.

Words near peal in the dictionary

  1. peaky
  2. peaky blinder
  3. peaky blinders
  4. peakyish
  5. peakèd
  6. peal
  7. peal of bells
  8. peal out
  9. Peale
  10. Peale's dolphin
  11. Peale's falcon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: peal (page history and authors); Peal (page history and authors); peal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); گڑگڑاہٹ (Urdu) (page history and authors); Peal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); peal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); peal (Kannada Wiktionary) (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:

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

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