GALE. I. A wind of considerable power, appreciably stronger than a breeze, but not severe enough to be called a storm. In nautical language it is usually combined with some qualifying word, as "half a gale," a "stiff gale." In poetical and figurative language "gale" is often used in a pleasant sense, as in "favour ing gale" ; in America, it is used in a slang sense for boisterous or excited behaviour.
2. The payment of rent, customs or duty at regular intervals; a "hanging gale" is an arrear of rent left over after each suc cessive "gale" or rent day. The term survives in the Forest of Dean, for leases granted to the "free miners" of the forest.
3. The popular name of a plant, Myrica Gale, also known as the sweet gale or gaul, sweet willow, bog or Dutch myrtle.