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haul

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or oxen, or a motor vehicle.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

hawl
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhɔl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or oxen, or a motor vehicle.

    “Haul stones from the quarry in a truck.”

  2. transitive

    To draw or pull something heavy.

  3. transitive

    To carry or transport something, with a connotation that the item is heavy or otherwise difficult to move.

  4. intransitive

    To pull apart, as oxen sometimes do when yoked.

  5. transitivefiguratively

    Followed by up: to summon to be disciplined or held answerable for something.

  6. transitivefiguratively

    To drag, to pull, to tug.

noun

  1. The act of drawing or hauling something

  2. An act of hauling or pulling, particularly with force; a (violent) pull or tug.

  3. An amount of something that has been taken, especially of fish, illegal loot, or items purchased on a shopping trip.

  4. The distance over which something is hauled or transported, especially if long.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or oxen, or a motor vehicle.

Used this way, haul is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“Haul stones from the quarry in a truck.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use haul

  • “Haul stones from the quarry in a truck.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

haul awayline haullonger haul

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • haulingnounInflected form

    The activity of transporting goods by truck.

  • haulernounInflected form

    A haulage contractor.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • haul upverbCompound term

    Come to a halt after driving somewhere.

  • haul offverbCompound term

    Take away by means of a vehicle.

  • haul awayverbCompound term

    Take away by means of a vehicle.

  • long haulnounCompound term

    A journey over a long distance.

  • garbage haulernounCompound term

    Someone employed to collect and dispose of refuse.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • haulagenounRelated term

    The act of drawing or hauling something.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to transport by drawing or pulling

drawArchaic

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.