haul
/hɔːl
/verb
1 [with object and adverbial] (Of a person) pull or drag with effort or force: he hauled his bike out of the shed [no object, with adverbial]: she hauled on the reins...
- By the end of this cycle I wind up with bins the Terminator would have trouble dragging down the driveway, but I dutifully haul them out in front of the wall and up onto the curb.
- We all hauled the bikes to the top of Mud Hill, mounted up, and raced for the bottom, the first past the tree being the winner.
- Upstairs in the offices above the injecting room, Nurse Andy hauls a suitcase out of the cupboard, heaves it onto the table, and opens it up.
Synonyms
drag, pull, tug, heave, hump, trail, draw, tow, manhandle
informal lug
North American informal schlep
archaic hale
haul, pull, drag, hoist, crane, lift, tug, heave, trail, draw, tow, manhandle
archaic hale
1.1 (haul oneself) Propel or pull oneself with difficulty: he hauled himself along the cliff face...
- He hauled himself back aboard and pulled the javelin out of the riverbed, allowing the vessel to float free again.
- One man hauls himself along on a three-wheeled skateboard, propelling himself with his one leg as his opposite hand uses a flat, iron contraption as a cane.
- I've found it much more difficult to haul myself out of bed in the morning.
1.2 informal Force (someone) to appear for reprimand or trial: he is to be hauled before the Press Council...
- The pensioner was hauled before York Crown Court after he struck concert chairman Peter Suter in the face as tempers flared at Burton Lane Working Men's Club in York.
- He began his 18 months sentence for dangerous driving after he was eventually hauled before the courts again.
- He was hauled before a court next morning which he claims was a shambles.
2 [with object] (Of a vehicle) pull (an attached trailer or carriage) behind it: the engine hauls the overnight sleeper from London Euston...
- My first streetcar trip had one other close call, a sport-utility vehicle hauling a trailer that made a U-turn right in front of us.
- Police reported that the truck hauling two trailers - with a length measuring 22m - was travelling from Umtata when the driver was believed to have lost control.
- A truck hauling two trailers - with a total length measuring 22 metres - was travelling from Umtata when the driver is believed to have lost control.
2.1Transport in a lorry or cart: he made a living hauling coal...
- Carnegie needs at least five dump trucks to haul trash to the Imperial landfill.
- As the construction of the huge vessel approached completion, transport firms hauled the mountains of food to the site.
- They are usually used to haul heavy loads or carry cargoes.
Synonyms
transport, convey, cart, carry, ship, ferry, move, shift, take
3 [no object, with adverbial of direction] Nautical (Especially of a sailing ship) make an abrupt change of course: my plan was to haul offshore, well clear of the land...
- The waters of the Nile slipped beneath the hull and the boat hauled for the western shore.
- The ship hauled away from the dock and proceeded to Mare Island, California, in accordance with the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Squadron.
- As the ship hauled out into the stream, her bow was swung by the tide downward, and her helm was put to the starboard.
noun
1A quantity of something that has been stolen or is possessed illegally: they escaped with a haul of antiques...
- Officers were also criticised for not fully recording details of the weight or quantity of drug hauls or why they thought suspects possessed it.
- Thieves stole a huge haul of guitars and other instruments worth up to £6,000 from a Westcliff music store.
- GARDAÍ have seized more than €200,000 worth of illegal drugs in two hauls in counties Clare and Meath.
Synonyms
booty, loot, plunder;
spoils, stolen goods, gains, ill-gotten gains
informal swag, the goods, hot goods, boodle
1.1A number of fish caught: he landed a record pike haul...
- These were huge fishing craft capable of picking up a thousand tonnes of fish in a single haul.
- Prawn vessels continued to catch fairly large hauls of prawns.
- But Mormon use of advanced methods to net large hauls of fish for pickling and shipment elsewhere had impoverished the Utes and made them resentful and ready for war.
1.2The number of points, medals, or titles won by a person or team in a sporting event or over a period: his seven-goal haul against Liverpool...
- The medal haul was completed by Naomi Boynton, 11, also in the 200m butterfly.
- It would be easy to be triumphant about Manchester as the medal haul headed towards the 30-point mark last night.
- Brailsford said ‘two or three medals’ would be a satisfactory haul in Athens.
1.3All the products purchased by someone during a particular episode of shopping: my husband looked over my haul and announced that I was a shopaholic included in her beauty haul were a lot of facial masks...
- Who among us hasn't come back from a shopping excursion, looked over the just-purchased haul, and wondered, What was I thinking?
- This, plus a couple dresses, was my haul for the morning.
- Recently I popped by Burlington to see what they had in store for the season and today I wanted to share my haul with all of you!
2A distance to be covered in a journey: the thirty-mile haul to Boston...
- It was a long distance haul, not like a sprint, which is what we will be doing when we compete with our dogs in the Savoie Alps in January.
- What we have to do, is improve the railroads, to take the pressure off the air transport system, so short-haul, inter-city hauls, should be done by rail, not by air.
- Afterwards he loses his sight and from that day is plagued with hallucinations seeded with guilt and shame, the unspoken sense that his condition is a judgment, and his career a long, redemptive haul.
Phrasal verbs
haul off
haul out
Origin
Mid 16th century (originally in the nautical sense 'trim sails for sailing closer to the wind'): variant of hale2.