wale

A mark raised on the skin, as by a whip; a weal or welt.

One of the parallel ribs or ridges in the surface of a fabric such as corduroy.

The texture or weave of such a fabric.

A gunwale.

One of the heavy planks or strakes extending along the sides of a wooden ship.

To raise marks on (the skin), as by whipping.

Specifically, to sort or pick (coal) by hand at the mine or breaker.

In wood ship-building, one of the strakes of heavy outside planking above the turn of the bilge. In wooden war-ships, the main wales extended from the lower gun-port sills to the bottom plank, the middle wales between the main-deck ports and the gun-deck ports, and the channel wales, sometimes called strings, between the spar- and main-deck ports. See bend, 3 .