Definition of wale

• n. - A streak or mark made on the skin by a rod or whip; a stripe; a wheal. See Wheal.
• n. - A ridge or streak rising above the surface, as of cloth; hence, the texture of cloth.
• n. - A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position.
• n. - Certain sets or strakes of the outside planking of a vessel; as, the main wales, or the strakes of planking under the port sills of the gun deck; channel wales, or those along the spar deck, etc.
• n. - A wale knot, or wall knot.
• v. t. - To mark with wales, or stripes.
• v. t. - To choose; to select; specifically (Mining), to pick out the refuse of (coal) by hand, in order to clean it.