GALE, in nautical language, a term of various import. When the wind blows, but not so hard that a ship may not carry her top-sails a-trip, then they say it is a loom gale. When it blows very strong, they say it is a stiff, strong, or fresh gale. When two ships are near each other at sea, and, there being but little wind blowing, one of them finds more of it than the other, they say that the one ship gales away from the other.