beal meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology

beal

noun

US, UK /biːl/

Etymology From Middle English beel, bele, from Old English bȳle (“boil, carbuncle, bile”), from Proto-West Germanic *būlijā, from Proto-Germanic *būlijǭ (“swelling”), from *būlǭ (“swelling, bump, boil”). More at boil.

Dialectal, Obsolete A small inflammatory tumor; pustule.

beal

verb

Etymology From Middle English belen, from bele (see above).

Pennsylvania, Scotland, Western, Dialectal To gather matter; swell; come to a head, as a pimple; fester; suppurate.

beal

verb

Etymology From Middle English belien, from Old Norse belja (“to bellow, roar”).

UK, Dialectal To bellow, roar, or shout.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.