The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - hailэ v.

1) rain or beat or shower (down) on, bombard, pelt, volley, barrage: Rocks and debris hailed down on us from the cliffs above. --n. 2) volley, storm, shower, torrent, bombardment, barrage: They were greeted by a hail of abuse when they entered the meeting hall.