Definition of "hail" []

• Precipitation in the form of spherical or irregular pellets of ice larger than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter. (noun)
• Something that falls with the force and quantity of a shower of ice and hard snow: a hail of pebbles; a hail of criticism. (noun)
• To precipitate in pellets of ice and hard snow. (verb-intransitive)
• To fall like hailstones: Condemnations hailed down on them. (verb-intransitive)
• To pour (something) down or forth: They hailed insults at me. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term hail was a common mode of salutation to a king, or even to a friend."
• "After marching for an hour toward the city center, they encountered what he described as a hail of gunfire volleyed by Gaddafi forces into the crowd."
• "After marching for an hour toward the city center, they encountered what he described as a hail of gunfire directed by Gaddafi forces into the crowd."