Idioms

hale

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hail-fellow-well-met

Very friendly, often obnoxiously or disingenuously so. I don't think George is as nice as he seems—he just strikes me as hail-fellow-well-met. A: "I don't trust anyone who's hail-fellow-well-met like that." B: "Right? No one is just naturally that friendly." No, Kate is just genuinely a really nice, caring person—not hail-fellow-well-met.

hale and hearty

Healthy. It's true that she was in the hospital a few weeks ago, but she's hale and hearty now. A: "How's our little guy?" B: "The pediatrician was very pleased with his growth. She says he's hale and hearty!" I did break my foot over the summer, but I'm hale and hearty now.
See also: and, hale, hearty
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

hale and hearty

Cliché healthy. The young infant was hale and hearty. The calf—hale and hearty—ran around the barnyard.
See also: and, hale, hearty

hale-fellow-well-met

Fig. friendly to everyone; falsely friendly to everyone. (Usually said of males.) Yes, he's friendly, sort of hale-fellow-well-met. He's not a very sincere person. Hail-fellow-well-met—you know the type. What a pain he is. Good old Mr. Hail-fellow-well-met. What a phony!
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

hale and hearty

In robust good health, as in After her long bout with pneumonia, I was glad to see her hale and hearty. This redundant expression, since both hale and hearty here mean "healthy," probably survives owing to its pleasing alliteration. [Mid-1800s]
See also: and, hale, hearty
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hail-fellow-well-met

showing excessive familiarity.
1979 Steven Levenkron The Best Little Girl in the World Harold was accustomed to hail-fellow-well-met salesmen and deferential secretaries and even irate accountants.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

hale and ˈhearty

(especially of old people) strong and healthy: She was still hale and hearty in her nineties.
See also: and, hale, hearty
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

hale and hearty

Healthy and vigorous. This term, which dates from the mid-nineteenth century, is redundant, since hale and hearty both mean “healthy.” It survived, no doubt, because of its pleasing alliteration. Thomas Hardy used it in The Dynasts (1903): “We be the King’s men, hale and hearty.”
See also: and, hale, hearty
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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