# haul

> English word · Verb · IPA /hɔːl/ · frequency rank #8,551

## Definitions
1. To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or oxen, or a motor vehicle.
2. To draw or pull something heavy.
3. To carry or transport something, with a connotation that the item is heavy or otherwise difficult to move.
4. To drag, to pull, to tug.
5. Followed by up: to summon to be disciplined or held answerable for something.
6. To pull apart, as oxen sometimes do when yoked.
7. To steer (a vessel) closer to the wind.
8. Of the wind: to shift fore (more towards the bow).
9. To haul ass (“go fast”).

## Etymology
From Middle English hālen, hailen, haulen, halien (“to drag, pull; to draw up”), from Old French haler (“to haul, pull”), from Frankish *halōn (“to drag, fetch, haul”) or Middle Dutch halen (“to drag, fetch, haul”), possibly merging with Old English *halian (“to haul, drag”); all from Proto-Germanic *halōną, *halēną, *hulōną (“to call, fetch, summon”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, cry, summon”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Cognates
The word is cognate with Danish hale (“to haul”), Middle Dutch halen (“to draw, fetch, haul”), Dutch halen (“to fetch, bring, haul”), Old Frisian halia, Saterland Frisian halen (“to draw, haul, pull”), Low German halen (“to draw, pull”), Old High German halôn, holôn, German holen (“to fetch, get”), Norwegian hale (“to haul”), Old Saxon halôn (“to fetch, get”), Swedish hala (“to hale, haul, pull, tug”), and related to Old English ġeholian (“to get, obtain”).

## Easily confused with
- **Hu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hu)
- **huh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-huh)
- **hug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hug)
- **hub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hub)
- **hay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hay)
- **hut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hut)
- **hum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hum)
- **hue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hue)
- **hun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hun)
- **HUD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hud)
- **hua** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hua)
- **hui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hui)
- **haw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-haw)
- **Hou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hou)
- **Hsu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hsu)
- **Hel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hel)
- **Hur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hur)
- **hav** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hav)
- **Hus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-hus)
- **Huw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/haul-vs-huw)

## Common misspellings (5)
`ahul`, `halu`, `haull`, `hhaul`, `hual`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/haul