weal

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

weal, n. 

 The mark of a stripe. See Wale.  [1913 Webster]

weal, v. t. 

 To mark with stripes. See Wale.  [1913 Webster]

weal, n. [OE. wele, AS. wela, weola, wealth, from wel well. See Well, adv., and cf. Wealth.].

•  A sound, healthy, or prosperous state of a person or thing; prosperity; happiness; welfare.  [1913 Webster]

  "God . . . grant you wele and prosperity."  [1913 Webster]

  "As we love the weal of our souls and bodies."  [1913 Webster]

  "To him linked in weal or woe."  [1913 Webster]

  "Never was there a time when it more concerned the public weal that the character of the Parliament should stand high."  [1913 Webster]
•  The body politic; the state; common wealth.  [1913 Webster]

  "The special watchmen of our English weal."  [1913 Webster]

weal, v. t. 

 To promote the weal of; to cause to be prosperous.  Beau. & Fl.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

weal, n. & v.
--n. a ridge raised on the flesh by a stroke of a rod or whip.
--v.tr. mark with a weal.

weal, n. literary welfare, prosperity; good fortune.

Etymology

OE wela f. WG (as WELL(1))

THESAURUS

weal

Easy Street, affluence, bed of roses, birthmark, blackhead, bleb, blemish, blister, bulla, check, cicatrix, clover, comedo, comfort, crack, crater, craze, defacement, defect, deformation, deformity, disfiguration, disfigurement, distortion, ease, easy circumstances, fault, felicity, flaw, fleshpots, freckle, gracious life, gracious living, happiness, hemangioma, hickey, keloid, kink, lap of luxury, lentigo, life of ease, loaves and fishes, luxury, milium, mole, needle scar, nevus, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, port-wine mark, port-wine stain, prosperity, prosperousness, pustule, rift, scab, scar, scratch, sebaceous cyst, security, split, strawberry mark, sty, success, the affluent life, the good life, thriving condition, track, twist, upward mobility, velvet, verruca, vesicle, wale, warp, wart, wealth, welfare, well-being, welt, wen, whelk, whelp, whitehead

ROGET THESAURUS

weal

Good

N good, benefit, advantage, improvement, greatest good, supreme good, interest, service, behoof, behalf, weal, main chance, summum bonum, common weal, consummation devoutly to be wished, gain, boot, profit, harvest, boon, good turn, blessing, world of good, piece of good luck, piece of good fortune, nuts, prize, windfall, godsend, waif, treasure-trove, good fortune, happiness, goodness, utility, remedy, pleasure giving, commendable, useful, good, beneficial, well, aright, satisfactorily, favorably, not amis, all for the best, to one's advantage, in one's favor, in one's interest, so far so good, magnum bonum.