haul

1 of 2

verb

ˈhȯl 

hauled; hauling; hauls

transitive verb

1

a

: to cause (something) to move by pulling or drawing : to exert traction on

haul a wagon

b

: to obtain or move by or as if by hauling

was hauled to parties night after night by his wife

c

: to transport in a vehicle : cart

The cattle were hauled to market.

trucks hauling freight

2

: to change the course of (a ship) especially so as to sail closer to the wind

3

: to bring before an authority for interrogation or judgment : hale

haul traffic violators into court

intransitive verb

1

: to exert traction : pull

haul back on the reins

2

: to move along : proceed

About three o'clock we hauled into Moonridge.

—Kenneth Clark

The bull hauled back for another lunge …

—F. B. Gipson

3

: to furnish transportation

a nominal charge for hauling

4

of the wind : shift

haul

2 of 2

noun

1

a

: the act or process of hauling (see haul entry 1) : pull

The rope stood up under the strain of the haul.

b

: a device for pulling or carting something : a device for hauling

2

a

: the result of an effort to obtain, collect, or win

the burglar's haul

b

: the quantity of fish taken in a single draft of a net

3

a

: the act or process of transporting something in a vehicle : transportation by hauling

… a rail haul meant that several hundred expensive … cars would have to be bought.

—N. M. Clark

b

: the length or course of a transportation route

a long haul

c

: a quantity transported : load

a haul of lumber

Phrases

haul ass

informal + impolite

: to move quickly

You'd better haul ass or you'll miss your flight.

… if you get the call from the RuPaul's Drag Race casting team, you need to haul ass down to the Learning Annex and enroll in as many sewing classes as your fingers can take.

—Coleman Spilde

… I'm printing this thing out and I'm supposed to have left already 20 minutes ago. I literally pull it out of the laser printer hot, put a clip on it, and shove it in a gym bag and haul ass to the airport.

—James Cameron, quoted at The Ringer

Synonyms

Verb

• pull
• drag

Noun

• yield
• bounty
• catch
• earnings
• proceeds

Examples of haul in a Sentence

Verb

They hauled the boat up onto the beach.

The car was hauled away to the junkyard.

We used buckets to haul water up from the river.

She hauled herself to her feet and limped home.

I'm tired of hauling this heavy camera around with me.

The prisoner was hauled away in handcuffs.

They hauled her off to court.

The cattle were hauled by rail.

The company has a fleet of trucks that are used to haul freight.

Noun

each haul of the rope

Authorities seized the drugs in one of the biggest drug hauls in the history of the county.

The kids always collect a substantial haul of candy on Halloween.

It's just a short haul from our cabin to the beach.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Just think about where your luggage has been; it gets hauled through airports, goes for a ride on a conveyor belt, rolls across dusty parking lots, is stashed into overhead bins, and is often handled by multiple people with no guarantee of clean hands. —Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 June 2025

Those were frugal, pragmatic solutions; every stone that could be reused was another one that didn’t have to be quarried, cut, hauled, and placed. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 27 June 2025

Noun

There are dozens of Southern recipes to make use of your farmer’s market or u-pick farm haul. —Jessica Farthing, Southern Living, 21 June 2025

Unfortunately, middling reviews and a less-than-desirable box office haul nixed those plans, with Sony rebooting its approach to the web-slinger a few years later. —EW.com, 19 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb and Noun

Middle English halen to pull, from Anglo-French haler, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch halen to pull; akin to Old English geholian to obtain

First Known Use

Verb

1581, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Noun

1670, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing haul

• for the long haul
• haul in
• haul off
• haul off and
• haul on
• haul/rake (someone) over the coals
• in the long haul
• line-haul
• long haul
• long-haul COVID-19
• over the long haul
• short-haul
• water haul

Rhymes for haul

• ahl
• all
• aul
• bawl
• brawl
• call
• caul
• crawl
• dol
• doll
• drawl
• fall

Kids Definition

haul

1 of 2 verb

ˈhȯl 

1

: to pull or drag with effort : draw

haul a cart

2

: to obtain or move by or as if by hauling

3

: to transport in a vehicle

4

: to bring before an authority : hale

hauled him into court

hauler noun

haul

2 of 2 noun

1

: the act or process of hauling : pull

2

a

: an amount collected : take

a burglar's haul

b

: the amount of fish taken in a single drawing of a net

3

: the distance over which a load is hauled

a long haul

Etymology

Verb

Middle English halen "to pull," from early French haler (same meaning); of Germanic origin — related to hale entry 2