<p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) to pull or draw with force; move by drawing; drag: They hauled the boat up onto the beach.</li><li>to cart or transport; carry: The locomotive hauled freight over the Wasatch Mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming.</li><li>to lower; cause to descend (often followed by down): As the students gathered around the flagpole, the school custodian hauled down the flag.</li><li>to bring before an authority (often followed by before, in, to, into, etc.): He was hauled before the judge. She hauled me into the principal’s office.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used without object)</strong></p><ul><li>to pull or tug with force or effort: The sailors hauled on the oars as hard as they could.</li><li>to go or come to a place, especially with effort: After much carousing in the streets, they finally hauled into the tavern.</li><li>to cart or transport, or to move freight commercially: Ours is one of many Canadian trucking companies hauling south of the border.</li><li>to sail, as in a particular direction: They sailed to the west of Corsica, and then hauled south again.</li><li>to draw or pull a vessel up on land, as for repairs or storage.</li><li>(of the wind) to shift to a direction closer to the heading of a vessel (veer).</li><li>(of the wind) to change direction, shift, or veer (often followed by round or to): During the early morning hours the wind hauled northward and increased in intensity, with accompanying heavy seas.</li></ul><p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a strong pull or tug: He felt a sudden haul on the other end of the rope.</li><li>an act or instance of transporting something, or the load or quantity transported: You have so little stuff to move, I can probably do it in two hauls with my pickup.</li><li>the distance or route over which anything is transported or carried: I’ve been using this truck for a year now on a weekly 30-mile haul.</li><li>the quantity of fish taken at one draft of the net: We got such a huge haul of fish that we could hardly carry them home.</li><li>the act of taking or acquiring something, or something taken or acquired: The thieves' haul included several valuable paintings.</li><li>a video, photo, or report of something taken or acquired: He shops the flea markets over the weekend and then posts his haul on Monday afternoon.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb Phrase</strong></p><ul><li>to bring before a superior for judgment or reprimand; call to account: They were hauled up on a drug trafficking charge.</li><li>to come to a halt; stop: As night was falling we finally hauled up at an old farmhouse owned by a friendly couple.</li><li>(of a sailing vessel) to change the course of so as to sail closer to the wind.</li><li>(of a sailing vessel) to come closer to the wind.</li><li>(of a vessel) to come to a halt.</li><li>to change a ship's course so as to get farther off from an object.</li><li>to withdraw; leave.</li><li>(Informal) to draw back the arm in order to strike; prepare to deal a blow: He hauled off and struck the insolent lieutenant a blow to the chin.</li></ul>