hauling

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haul

(hôl)

v. hauled, haul·ing, hauls

v.tr.

1. To pull or drag forcibly: hauled the boat onto the beach. See Synonyms at pull.

2. To transport, as with a truck or cart: hauling cars across the country.

a. To cause (oneself) to move, especially slowly or laboriously: hauled myself down to the lobby.

b. To compel to go, especially for trial: hauled their competitor into court.

4. Nautical To change the course of (a ship), especially in order to sail closer into the wind.

v.intr.

1. To pull or drag something forcibly.

2. To provide transportation; cart.

3. To shift direction: The wind hauled to the east.

4. Nautical To change the course of a ship.

1. The act of pulling or dragging.

2. The act of transporting or carting.

3. A distance, especially the distance over which something is pulled or transported.

a. Something that is pulled or transported; a load.

b. Everything collected or acquired at a single time; the take: a big haul of fish.

Phrasal Verbs:

haul off Informal

1. To draw back slightly, as in preparation for initiating an action: "hauled off and smacked the hapless aide across the face" (Bill Barol).

2. To withdraw or move to another place.

haul out

To move from water onto the shore: a beach where seals often haul out; canoeists who hauled out on the riverbank to rest.

haul up

To come to a halt.

Idiom:

haul ass Vulgar Slang

To move quickly: We'll be late if you don't haul ass.

[Middle English haulen, from Old French haler, of Germanic origin; see kelə- in Indo-European roots.]

haul′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

hauling - the activity of transporting goods by truck

trucking, truckage

shipping, transport, transportation - the commercial enterprise of moving goods and materials

cartage, carting - the work of taking something away in a cart or truck and disposing of it

References in classic literature ?

Several eager hands were extended to receive the line, and, both ropes being equally well manned, the fishermen commenced hauling in with slow, and steady drags, Richard standing to the centre, giving orders, first to one party, and then to the other, to increase or slacken their efforts, as occasion required.

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The hauling in began about six in the evening, and was not ended before midnight.

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He broke off abruptly and began hauling in his line.

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About riding to the mill behind Gluglu; fishing back in the lake with their Uncle Jasper; picking pecans with Lidie's little black brood, and hauling chips in their express wagon.

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There was some hauling to be done at the lower end of the wood-lot, and Ethan was out early the next day.

The hauling was not over till mid-day, and as the lumber was to be delivered to Andrew Hale, the Starkfield builder, it was really easier for Ethan to send Jotham Powell, the hired man, back to the farm on foot, and drive the load down to the village himself.

As if expecting a protest, she continued plaintively; "If you're too busy with the hauling I presume you can let Jotham Powell drive me over with the sorrel in time to ketch the train at the Flats."

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"Ef dad was along," said Dan, hauling up, "he'd read the signs plain's print.

"Sixty," sung out Tom Platt, hauling in great wet coils.

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814-818) Again, few know that the twenty-seventh of the month is best for opening a wine-jar, and putting yokes on the necks of oxen and mules and swift-footed horses, and for hauling a swift ship of many thwarts down to the sparkling sea; few call it by its right name.

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And all the while, jet after jet of white smoke was agonizingly shot from the spiracle of the whale, and vehement puff after puff from the mouth of the excited headsman; as at every dart, hauling in upon his crooked lance (by the line attached to it), Stubb straightened it again and again, by a few rapid blows against the gunwale, then again and again sent it into the whale.