hailing

Pluralhailings

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of calling out to a person in order to get their attention, greet them, or signal to them.

   A quick hailing from the dock was enough to bring the ferry alongside.

   The constant hailing of taxis on that busy corner made it hard to hear.

   Similarcall, shout, signal

   Note

   As a full noun it can be counted: a single hailing, repeated hailings, the hailing of taxis. That sets it apart from the gerund in the verb form, which takes a direct object (hailing a taxi) rather than of. The call need not be spoken, either. Sara Mills's Feminist Stylistics (1995) writes of "an unending series of hailings" to which the reader responds or does not respond. There the hailing comes from texts that address whoever reads them.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of hail.

   Passengers were hailing the ferry from the crowded dock.

   Hailing a passing patrol car, she flagged down help within seconds.

   Note

   One spelling carries two very different verbs. The weather verb is impersonal. It takes a dummy subject and no object, as in it was hailing all night, and it stretches to anything that pours down in rapid succession. The calling verb is transitive and needs someone on the other end: hailing a cab, hailing a passing ship. If there is an object, it is the calling verb.

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