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halse

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halse¹

  • [hoːs] Northern England
  • [haːs] Northern England
  • [hoːz] Northern England

Rhymes with -ɔːs

Where it comes from

From Middle English hals, from Old English heals (“neck, prow of a ship”), from Proto-West Germanic *hals, from Proto-Germanic *halsaz (“neck”), from Proto-Indo-European *kols-, *ḱols- (“neck”).

Cognate with Dutch hals (“neck, throat”), German Hals (“neck, throat”), Norwegian hals (“neck, throat”), Swedish hals (“neck, throat”), Latin collum (“neck”).

noun halses · hawse

  1. archaic The neck; the throat. Well, as you know they used to hang folk by the halse for horse theft.

halse²

  • [hoːs] Northern England
  • [haːs] Northern England
  • [hoːz] Northern England

Rhymes with -ɔːs

Where it comes from

From Middle English halsen, halchen, from Old English *halsian, *healsian (“to embrace”, literally “to fall upon the neck of”), from heals (“neck”). See above. Cognate with Old Saxon helsjen (“to embrace”), Old High German halsōn (German halsen (“to jibe”)), Icelandic hálsa (“to embrace”).

verb halses · halsing · halsed · haulse · halsh

  1. dialectal To fall upon the neck of; hug; embrace. soo the Kyng took a lytel hackney and but fewe felauship with him vntyl he came vnto sir Tristrams pauelione / and whanne syre Trystram sawe the Kynge / he ranne vnto hym and wold haue holden his styrope / But the kynge lepte from his hors lyghtly / and eyther halsed other in armes

halse³

  • [hoːs] Northern England
  • [haːs] Northern England
  • [hoːz] Northern England

Rhymes with -ɔːs

Where it comes from

From Middle English halsen, halsien (“to beseech, adjure”), from Old English healsian, hālsian (“to entreat earnestly, beseech, implore”), from Proto-Germanic *hailisōną (“to greet”), from Proto-Indo-European *kailo-, *kailu- (“whole, safe”).

Cognate with Middle High German heilsen (“to predict”), Swedish hälsa (“to greet”), Icelandic heilsa (“to salute”). More at whole.

verb halses · halsing · halsed

  1. transitive To greet; salute; hail.
  2. transitive To beseech; adjure.

halse⁴

  • [hoːs] Northern England
  • [haːs] Northern England
  • [hoːz] Northern England

Rhymes with -ɔːs

Where it comes from

From Middle English hals (“neck”), from Old Norse háls (“neck, part of the forecastle or bow of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *halsaz (“neck”). See Etymology 1. Cognate with Danish hals (“neck, tack”).

noun halses · hawse

  1. alternative Alternative form of hawse

verb halses · halsing · halsed · hawse

  1. obsolete To haul; to hoist.

Halse⁵

proper noun

  1. A small village in Greatworth and Halse parish, West Northamptonshire district, Northamptonshire, previously in South Northamptonshire district (OS grid ref SP5640).
  2. A village and civil parish in Somerset, England, previously in Somerset West and Taunton district and Taunton Deane district before that (OS grid ref ST1428).
  3. A surname.

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MLA

"halse." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/halse. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

halse. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/halse

Chicago

"halse." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/halse.

BibTeX
@misc{halse_2026,
  title = {halse},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/halse},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}