To scare or frighten someone, or to make a loud noise to startle animals.
From Old English or Scandinavian roots, possibly related to 'gale' or alarm sounds; used dialectally in British and Irish English to mean frighten or disturb.
The word 'gally' almost disappeared from English but survived in rural Irish and Scottish dialects—it's a ghost word that shows how local communities preserve old vocabulary long after cities have abandoned it.
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