Sc. and north. Forms: 4–6 walle, 4–5 weyle, 5–8 waill, 5–9 wail, 6 vale, vaile, weale, 7 wayl, weil, wehl, weal(l, 6–9 wyle, 8–9 wile, 9 wyell, 4– wale. [f. WALE sb.2 Cf. WELE v. (The form wehl was prob. due to G. wāhlen, † wehlen.)]
1. trans. To choose, select, pick out, sort. Also with out, through.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., ix. 33. Mosti ryden by Rybbesdale, Wilde wymmen forte wale, ant welde wuch ich wolde.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 999. Iasper hyȝt þe fyrst gemme, þat I on þe fyrst basse con wale.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 105. That worthy hade a wyfe walit hym-seluon.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 1014. Wale ȝow oþer werriouris þat wiȝt ere & ȝonger.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 895. In gret ire he apon thaim sadly socht, Wailland a place quhar he mycht bargane mak.
1496. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 319. Item … giffin to Johne Maware, to pas to Clidisdale, to the woddis, to wale tymmyr for the artailȝeri, ix s.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 530. Of ther thre wantoun wiffis, that I haif writtin heir, Quhilk wad ȝe wail to ȝour wif?
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. i. 10. Of chost men syne, walit by cutt, thai tuik Ane greit nwmir.
1537. in Exch. Rolls Scot., XVII. 741. That ye cause … Patrik Tennent waill our sa[i]d woll, sort, and pak the samin.
1625. A. Gil, Sacr. Philos., xii. 192. The Poet gives you an example of a Gardiner, wehling his seeds being mingled together.
1637. Rutherford, Lett. to Lady Kenmure (1664), 30. But more I can neither wish, nor pray, nor desire for to your La: then Christ singled and wailed out, from all created good things.
1674. in Scott. Hist. Rev. (1907), Jan., 232. Buy me a good handsom Caudibeck hatt … pray sie that it be good and weall wyled.
1737. Ramsay, Sc. Prov., ii. 35 (1750), 7. A lass that has mony wooers aft wales the warst.
1785. Burns, Cotter’s Saturday Nt., xii. Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, He wales a portion with judicious care.
1821. Carlyle, Lett., 17 Nov., Early Lett. (1886), II. 4. To beg that you will accept the brown pair of spectacles which I have waled for you.
1832. Scott, Redgauntlet, let. xii. Come away, chap—come away, gentle chap—nae time to be picking and waling your steps.
1873. C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, xi. I said I would wail a man for you myself.
1888. D. Grant, Sc. Stories, 30. A bodie canna aye wyle his words.
1894. Northumbld. Gloss., s.v., Wale me an orange…. To wale one’s way.
b. To wale by, to choose and put by.
1789. Ross, Helenore, I. (ed. 3), 53. Bannocks and kebbocks knit up in a claith, She had wiled by, and row’d up in her waith.
c. Coal-mining. (See quot. 1881.)
1860. Eng. & For. Mining Gloss., Waling, cleaning the coals.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Wale, Newc. To clean coal by picking out the refuse by hand.
2. intr. To make choice.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1276. ‘I-wysse, worþy,’ quoth þe wyȝe, ‘ȝe haf waled wel better.’
1786. Burns, Halloween, iv. They steek their een, an’ graip an’ wale For muckle anes, an’ straught anes.
1826–30. T. Wilson, Pitman’s Pay, III. cxvi. Through and through the bowl they wyell—For raisins, how they stritch and strive!
† 3. trans. ? To seek. Obs. rare–1.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 398. Where schulde I wale þe, quod Gauan, where is þy place?
Hence Waling vbl. sb. Also attrib. waling glass (see quot. 1880).
1625. A. Gil, Sacr. Philos., i. 12. Every seed encreaseth by the earth and moisture thereof, which cannot be but with a wehling out, or choice of things that are homogeneous, or of parts like thereto.
1634. Rutherford, Lett. to Lady Kenmure, 29 April. It should be of your wailing and not of his.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Waling glass, a weaver’s counting glass, which magnifies a small portion of the surface of linen, and thus enables the set or count to be ascertained.
