Etymology Inherited from Middle English halwe (“a saint, holy thing, shrine”), from Old English hālga (“a holy one, saint”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagô (“holy one”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots halow, hallow (“saint”), German Heiliger (“saint (male)”) / Heilige (“saint (female)”). More at holy, whole.
1
A saint; a holy person; an apostle.
Obsolete outside set phrases
All Hallows Eve (or Halloween), the night before All Hallows Day (now more commonly known as "All Saints' Day").
2
In plural, Obsolete The relics or shrines of saints or non-Christian gods.
To seek hallows: to visit relics or shrines, in the belief that the saints themselves are present there.
Derived terms
All Hallows, All Hallows' Eve, Hallow-day, hallowdom, hallowed, Halloween, Hallow-eve, Hallow-fair, Hallowmas, Hallowmass, Hallow-tide, Reedley Hallows
hallow
verb
Etymology Inherited from Middle English halwen (“to hallow, sanctify”), from Old English hālgian (“to hallow, sanctify, make holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagōną (“to make holy”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Dutch heiligen (“to hallow”), German heiligen (“to hallow”). More at holy.
1
To make holy, to sanctify.
[…]I am coming on, to venge me as I may and to put forth my rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
Come hallow the goblet with something more true / Than words we forget in a minute.1847, Charles Swain, Dramatic Chapters: Poems and Songs, D. Bogue, page 324:
Etymology Inherited from Middle English halowen, from halow (interjection), from Old English ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”, interjection), probably conflated with Old French halloer.
1
To shout, especially to urge on dogs for hunting.
[…] for the conversation (if it may be called so) was seldom such as could entertain a lady. It consisted chiefly of hallowing, singing, relations of sporting adventures, b—d—y, and abuse of women, and of the government.1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IV, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:
hallow
noun
Etymology Inherited from Middle English halowen, from halow (interjection), from Old English ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”, interjection), probably conflated with Old French halloer.
1
A shout, cry; a hulloo.
Then away they went from merry Sherwood / And into Yorkshire he did hie / And the King did follow, with a hoop and a hallow / But could not come him nigh.1777, Robin Hood's Chase, reprinted in 2003, Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Courier Dover Publications, page 206
I told them, the sherriff could not be admitted on board this time of night, on which they set up a hallow and rowed as fast as they could towards the vessel's bows.1772, William Read Staples, The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee, Knowles, Vose, and Anthony, published 1845, page 14: