bale

See also: Bale, balé, bále, Bâle, balë, ba-lê, and Ba Lê

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /beɪ̯l/, [ˈbeɪ̯(ə)ɫ], [beə̯ɫ]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪl
  • Homophone: bail

Etymology 1

From Middle English bale (“evil”), Old English bealo, from Proto-Germanic *balwą. Cognate with Low German bal- (“bad, ill”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (balweins, “torture”), Old High German balo (“destruction”), Old Norse bǫl (“disaster”).

Noun

bale (uncountable)

  1. Evil, especially considered as an active force for destruction or death.
  2. Suffering, woe, torment.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:
      That other swayne, like ashes deadly pale, / Lay in the lap of death, rewing his wretched bale.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English bale (“pyre, funeral pyre”), from Old English bǣl (“pyre, funeral pyre”), from Proto-Germanic *bēlą (“pyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine; gleam; sparkle”). Cognate with Old Norse bál (which may have been the direct source for the English word).

Noun

bale (plural bales)

  1. (obsolete) A large fire, a conflagration or bonfire.
  2. (archaic) A funeral pyre.
  3. (archaic) A beacon-fire.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Middle English bale (“bale”); further derivation uncertain: perhaps from Old French bale, balle, from Medieval Latin balla (“ball, rounded package”), from Germanic; or perhaps from the Middle Dutch ancestor Dutch baal, itself borrowed from Middle French.

Round straw bales in Germany

Noun

bale (plural bales)

  1. A rounded bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation.
  2. A bundle of compressed wool or hay, compacted for shipping and handling.
  3. A measurement of hay equal to 10 flakes. Approximately 70-90 lbs (32-41 kg).
  4. A measurement of paper equal to 10 reams.
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

bale (third-person singular simple present bales, present participle baling, simple past and past participle baled)

  1. (transitive) To wrap into a bale.
Translations

Etymology 4

Alternative spelling of bail

Verb

bale (third-person singular simple present bales, present participle baling, simple past and past participle baled)

  1. (Britain, nautical) To remove water from a boat with buckets etc.
Translations

See also

Anagrams

Buginese

Noun

bale

  1. fish

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Audio(file)

Verb

bale

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of balen

Anagrams

French

Alternate forms

Etymology

From Gaulish *balu.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bal/

Noun

bale f (uncountable)

  1. chaff (inedible casing of a grain seed)

Kapampangan

Etymology

From Proto-Philippine *balay, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *balay, from Proto-Austronesian *balay.

Noun

bale

  1. house

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English bealo, from Proto-Germanic *balwą.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbaːl(ə)/

Noun

bale (plural bales)

  1. An evil or wrong act; a bad deed.
  2. Maliciousness, iniquity, damage.
  3. Devastation and doom; the causing of lifelessness.
  4. Woe or torment; hurting, agony.
Descendants
  • English: bale (dated)
References

Adjective

bale

  1. decisive, ruinous, vicious
  2. tormentuous, painful, hurtful
References

Etymology 2

Either from Old English bǣl, Old Norse bál, or a conflation of both; in any case, from Proto-Germanic *bēlą.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /baːl/

Noun

bale

  1. Any large fire; a bonfire or pyre.
  2. A fire for inhumation; a funeral pyre.
  3. A fire for execution or killing.
Descendants
References

Etymology 3

Probably from Old French bale, balle, from Medieval Latin balla.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbaːl(ə)/

Noun

bale (plural bales)

  1. A bale (rounded bundle)
Descendants
References

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Verb

bale

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of balar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of balar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of balar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of balar
  5. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of balir
  6. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of balir

Romanian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin root *baba. Compare French bave, Italian bava, Spanish and Portuguese baba. The normal result, *ba, is not used as the singular has been replaced with bală through analogy.

Noun

bale f pl (plural only)

  1. slobber, drool, dribble, saliva

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • bălos

Spanish

Verb

bale

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of balar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of balar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of balar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of balar.

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French ballet.

Noun

bale (definite accusative baleyi, plural baleler)

  1. ballet
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