As a verb: greets enthusiastically or signals for a taxi; as a noun: pellets of frozen rain that fall during thunderstorms.
The verb 'hail' comes from Old Norse 'heill' (health, wholeness), used as a greeting. The noun 'hail' (ice pellets) comes from Old English 'hagol,' likely related to 'haggle.'
Hailstones form when raindrops get caught in updrafts and cycle through freezing layers repeatedly—some hailstones are as big as baseballs and fall at 100+ mph, causing billions in crop damage yearly.
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