Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To restore to health or soundness; cure.
  • intransitive verb To ease or relieve (emotional distress).
  • intransitive verb To set right; repair.
  • intransitive verb To recover from an illness or injury; return to health.
  • intransitive verb To experience relief from emotional distress.
  • intransitive verb To be relieved or eliminated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Health; well-being.
  • A variant spelling of heel.
  • To hide; conceal; keep secret.
  • To cover, as for protection.
  • To cover (the roots of trees and plants), usually in an inclined or slanting position, with soil, after they have been taken out of the ground, and before setting them permanently: generally used with in.
  • To make whole or sound; restore to health or soundness; cure: as, to heal the sick.
  • To restore to wholesome conditions; remove something evil or noxious from: purify; cleanse; strengthen.
  • To remedy; remove, repair, or counteract by salutary or beneficial means: as, to heal a quarrel or a breach.
  • To grow whole or sound; return to a sound state: with reference to a wound, sometimes with up or over.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To cover, as a roof, with tiles, slate, lead, or the like.
  • transitive verb To make hale, sound, or whole; to cure of a disease, wound, or other derangement; to restore to soundness or health.
  • transitive verb To remove or subdue; to cause to pass away; to cure; -- said of a disease or a wound.
  • transitive verb To restore to original purity or integrity.
  • transitive verb To reconcile, as a breach or difference; to make whole; to free from guilt; as, to heal dissensions.
  • noun obsolete Health.
  • intransitive verb To grow sound; to return to a sound state; ; -- sometimes with up or over.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To hide; conceal; keep secret.
  • verb transitive To cover, as for protection.
  • verb transitive To make better; to revive, recover, or cure.
  • verb intransitive To become better.
  • noun obsolete health

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb get healthy again
  • verb provide a cure for, make healthy again
  • verb heal or recover

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English healen, from Old English hǣlan; see kailo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English helen, hilen, from Old English helan ("to conceal, cover, hide"), from Proto-Germanic *helanan (“to hide, stash”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”). Cognate with Scots heal ("to cover, hide, conceal, keep secret"), Dutch helen ("to conceal"), German heilen ("to conceal"), Latin cēlō ("conceal"). Related to hole, hull.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English helen, from Old English hǣlan ("to heal, cure, save, greet, salute"), from Proto-Germanic *hailijanan (“to heal, make whole, save”), from Proto-Indo-European *koil- (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots hale, hail ("to heal"), Eastern Frisian heila, heilen ("to heal"), Dutch helen ("to heal"), German heilen ("to heal"), Swedish hela ("to heal"). More at whole.

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