hele
/hiːl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.04 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To hide, conceal, and keep secret, especially for a secret society (such as the masons).
Archaic
name
A number of places in the West Country of England:
name
A number of places in the West Country of England:
name
A number of places in the West Country of England:
name
A number of places in the West Country of England:
name
A number of places in the West Country of England:
Example Sentences
- "… the lion is in most gentleness and nobility, when his neck and shoulders be heled with hair and main."
- "Men could look up and understand something of the star-Spangled arch of blue, but the reversed arch or crypt beneath was to the eyes a flesh 'heled, concealed, and never revealed,' […]"
- "The second is concerned more especially with the obligation of the Neophyte Grade in which the Candidate is pledged to hele, conceal and never reveal the secret art and hidden mysteries of Masonry."
- "At the time of earthing the potatoes by the double mould-plough, turnip seed is sown, and thus "heled;" the turnips arrive at maturity before the potatoes, and are pulled without damage to them."
- "[…] and for this reason had better be taken up and heled in, in a safe place, where there is no danger from standing water."
- "Take your vines, in a pail with water, or wrapped in a wet cloth, from the place where they were heled-in,* to the holes; […] *On receiving your vines from the nursery, they should be taken out of the box, without delay, and heled-in, which is done as follows: In a dry and well protected situation, a trench is made in the soil […] The plants are then set thickly together in the trench […] and soil taken from [another trench] is thrown into the first, covering the roots carefully,"
Etymology
From Middle English helen, helien, from Old English helan (“to conceal, cover, hide”, strong verb) and helian (“to conceal, cover, hide”, weak verb), from Proto-West Germanic *helan, from Proto-Germanic *helaną (“to conceal, stash, receive stolen goods”) and Proto-Germanic *haljaną (“to hull, conceal”); both from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide”). Cognate with Scots heal (“to cover, hide, conceal”), Saterland Frisian hela (“to conceal”), Dutch helen (“to conceal”), German hehlen (“to deal in stolen or illegal goods”), Swedish häla (“hide”) and hälare (“fence, peddler of stolen goods”), as well as with helmet and Latin cēlō (“conceal”). Related to hole, hull.