Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WALE, n. [This may be the W. gwialen, a rod or twig, from the same root.]

1. In cloth, a ridge or streak rising above the rest. We say, cloth is wove with a wale.
2. A streak or stripe; the mark of a rod or whip on animal flesh. Wales of a ship, an assemblage of strong planks, extending along a ship's sides, throughout the whole length, at different hights, and serving to strengthen the decks and form the curves. They are distinguished into the main wale and the channel wale. – Mar. Dict.