Wheal
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A small raised swelling on the skin, often itchy, caused by a blow from a whip or an insect bite etc.
"A Perſon of Honour, of a full Body abounding with ſharp Humours, was ſeized with an Herpes on his right Leg. […] [I]t inflamed and ſwelled very much, many Wheals aroſe, and fretted one into another, with great Excoriation."
- 2 A mine. Australia, Cornwall, South
"The four last-mentioned mines, Wheal Crowndale, Wheal Crebor, East Liscombe, and Wheal Tamar, are on the same lode, which ranges as usual from east to west, and are included in a space of about four miles in length."
- 3 a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions wordnet
- 1 Synonym of wale. uncommon
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The clear vesicles shoot up from the surface, as it were, without warning; or there may be for a brief period only a circumscribed erythema like that which usually precedes the appearance of an urticarial wheal."
Etymology
From Middle English whele (“boil”), from Old English *hwele (“boil”); related to Old English hwelian (“to fester, ulcerate”). Compare also Old English hwelca, hwylca (“an inflamed swelling, pustule”).
Borrowed from Cornish hwel.