Real Dictionary

hail
If a person, event, or achievement is hailed as important or successful, they are praised publicly.
singular noun: A hail of things, usually small objects, is a large number of them that hit you at the same time and with great force.
uncountable noun: Hail consists of small balls of ice that fall like rain from the sky.
verb: Someone who hails from a particular place was born there or lives there.
verb: When it hails, hail falls like rain from the sky.

hail in American English 1
to welcome, greet, etc. with or as with cheers; acclaim
intransitive verb: to call out in order to greet, attract attention, etc
transitive verb: to cheer, salute, or greet; welcome

hail in American English 2
rounded pieces of ice that are larger than 5 mm (.2 in) and sometimes fall during thunderstorms; frozen raindrops; hailstones
intransitive verb: to pour down
noun: showery precipitation in the form of irregular pellets or balls of ice more than 1⁄5 in. (5 mm) in diameter, falling from a cumulonimbus cloud (distinguished from sleet)
transitive verb: to pour down on as or like hail

hail in British English 1
noun: small pellets of ice falling from cumulonimbus clouds when there are very strong rising air currents
verb: to be the case that hail is falling

hail in British English 2
to greet, esp enthusiastically
noun: the act or an instance of hailing
sentence substitute: an exclamation of greeting