1. Hal - Noun
2. Hal - Proper noun
Hal (plural Hals)
A diminutive of the male given names Henry, Harold and Harry.
HAL (plural HALs)
(software) Acronym of hardware abstraction layer.
HAL (plural HALs)
(fiction, computing) A homicidal computer, an artificial intelligence that acts similarly to the HAL 9000 featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Open the pod bay doors, Hal. Arthur C. Clarke
And ich wulle uaren to Aualun to uairest alre maidene. to Argante þere quene aluen swiðe sceone. & heo scal mine wunden makien alle isunde. al hal me makien mid haleweiye drenchen. And seoðe ich cumen wulle. to mine kineriche. and wunien mid Brutten mid muchelere wunne. Layamon
Truscott (shouting, knocking Hal to the floor): Under any other political system I'd have you on the floor in tears! Hal (crying): You've got me on the floor in tears! Joe Orton
I had great cameramen like Rudolph Mate and Hal Mohr. They'd take an hour to light the proper closeup of me. Irene Dunne
You have hal...... real bad, chum. Vladimir Nabokov
Like most North Americans of his generation, Hal tends to know way less about why he feels certain ways about the objects and pursuits he's devoted to than he does about the objects and pursuits themselves. It's hard to say for sure whether this is even exceptionally bad, this tendency. David Foster Wallace