bail

• enPR: bāl, IPA^(key): /beɪ(ə)l/

• Audio (US); [ˈb̥e̞ː.ɫ̩]:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: bale

From Middle English baille, from the Old French verb bailler (“to deliver or hand over”) and noun bail (“lease”), from Latin bāiulāre, present active infinitive of bāiulō (“carry or bear”), from baiulus (“porter; steward”) (English: bailiff).

bail (countable and uncountable, plural bails)

1. (countable, uncountable) Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
   • 1736 March 16 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Henry Fielding, Pasquin. A Dramatick Satire on the Times: […], London: […] J. Watts […], published 1736, →OCLC, Act I, page 1:

     I ſuppoſe vve ſhall hardly Rehearſe the Comedy this Morning; for the Author vvas Arreſted as he vvas going home from King's Coffee-houſe; and, as I heard, it vvas for upvvards of Four Pound: I ſuppoſe he vvill hardly get Bail.

   • 2009, George Cole with Christopher Smith, The American System of Criminal Justice, International Edition, page 338:

     The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution forbids excessive bail, and state bail laws are usually designed to prevent discrimination in setting bail.

   • 2011, Larry J. Siegel, Criminology, page 658:

     The purpose of bail is to ensure the return of the accused at subsequent proceedings. If the accused is unable to make bail, he or she is detained in jail.

2. (law, UK) Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
3. (law, UK) The person providing such payment.
4. A bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.
   • 1770, James Cook, Voyages Round the World:

     The bail of a canoe […] made of a human skull.

5. A person who bails water out of a boat.
6. (obsolete) Custody; keeping.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Silly Faunus now within their baile.

• bailiff

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

1. To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.
   • 2012 February 11, David Barrett, “Rupert Murdoch moves to reassure Sun staff after arrests”, in The Telegraph‎^[3], UK:

     For the first time, the arrests broadened beyond payments to police, with a Ministry of Defence employee and a member of the Armed forces held by police before also being bailed to a date in May.

2. (law) To release a person under such guarantee.
3. (law) To hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.

   to bail cloth to a tailor to be made into a garment; to bail goods to a carrier

4. (nautical, transitive, intransitive) To remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.

   to bail water out of a boat

   • November 4, 1857, Henry William Harper, letter to St. John:

     we had hard work to reach our haven, having to bail out the water with my straw hat.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     ‘Bail out! bail out!’ yelled Job, ‘or we shall founder.’ I seized a large tin bowl with a handle to it, which was fixed under one of the seats, and the three of us bailed away for dear life.

5. (nautical, transitive) To remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.

   to bail a boat

   • 1840, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, Chapter XVIII:

     By the help of a small bucket and our hats we bailed her out.

6. To set free; to deliver; to release.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 7:

     Ne none there was to reskue her, ne none to baile.

• bailiff

From a shortening of bail out, ultimately same as above.

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

1. (intransitive, slang) To leave or exit abruptly.

   With his engine in flames, the pilot had no choice but to bail.

   • 2010 September, Jeannette Cooperman, "Bringing It Home", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 62:

     The Teacher Home Visit Program takes a huge commitment—time, energy, patience, diplomacy. Quite a few schools […] have tried it and bailed.

2. (intransitive, informal) To fail to meet a commitment (to a person). [with on ‘someone’]
   • 1997, Eric Lustbader, Dark homecoming:

     "No one bails on Bennie Milagros. No one, comprende? I'm gonna hold you to that midnight run — "

   • 1999, Robert Draper, Hadrian's walls:

     And I ain't got no help. Goddamn Fitch bails on me, scrambles over to Finance.

   • 2010, David Handler, The Shimmering Blond Sister, page 119:

     A guy who bails on his young wife and son the way he did. Leaving us to fend for ourselves.

   • 2010, Deborah Cooke, Whisper Kiss:

     "We'll just tell Peter that you got called back to work. He bails on vacations all the time for that reason."

From Middle English beyle, from Old English bīeġels, from bīeġan +‎ -els.

bail (plural bails)

1. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).
   • 2010, John M. Findley, Just Lucky, page 78:

     I reached across beneath the cow to attach a metal bail to each end of the strap so that the bail hung about 5 inches below the cow's belly. […] While stroking and talking to the cow, I reached under and suspended the machine on the bail beneath the cow, with its four suction cups dangling to one side.

2. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).
   • 1953, British Institute of Management, Centre for Farm Management, Farm Management Association, Farm Managememt, 1960, John Wiley, page 160,

     More recently, the fixed bail, sometimes called the ‘milking parlour’, with either covered or open yards, has had a certain vogue and some very enthusiastic claims have been made for this method of housing.

   • 2011, Edith H. Whetham, Joan Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume 8: Volumes 1914-1939, page 191,

     Ten men thus sufficed for the milking of three hundred cows in five bails, instead of the thirty men who would normally have been employed by conventional methods.

3. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
4. (chiefly Australia and New Zealand) A frame to restrain a cow during milking or feeding.
   • 2011, Bob Ellis, Hush Now, Don't Cry, page 153:

     But until he had poured enough milk into the vat above the separator, I drove unmilked cows into the bail where he had previously milked and released one. He moved from one bail to the other to milk the next one I had readied. I drove each cow into the empty bail, chained her in, roped the outer hind leg then washed and massaged the udder and teats.

5. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
6. (cricket) One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.
   • 2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport‎^[4], London:

     As Jason Roy's throw came in from deep mid-wicket, a diving Guptill was short when Buttler removed the bails, sending England and the whole of Lord's into delirious celebrations.

7. (furniture) Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

1. To secure the head of a cow during milking.

From French baillier.

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

1. (rare) To confine.
2. (Australia, New Zealand) To secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
3. (Australia, New Zealand, usually with up) To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up.
   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 128:

     The transition over the rooftop would have been quicker if Sellers had not been bailed up by a particularly hostile spiritual presence speaking Swedish.

   • 2023 January 31, Clem Bastow, “My bad trip – I met a handsome Scot with a crossword and thought it was true love”, in The Guardian‎^[5]:

     While celebrating our “graduation”, a handsome Scot bailed me up outside a pub and insisted I help him solve the cryptic crossword.

• Albi, Bali, Liab.

From Proto-Tai *pajᴬ (“to go”). Cognate with Thai ไป (bpai), Northern Thai ᨻᩱ (pai), Khün ᨻᩱ (pai), Lao ໄປ (pai), Lü ᦺᦔ (ṗay) and ᦺᦗ (pay), Tai Dam ꪼꪜ, Shan ပႆ (pǎi), Aiton ပႝ (pay), Zhuang bae.

• IPA^(key): /pɐi˨˦/

bail

1. to go
2. to walk
3. to go away; to leave
4. to spend; to use up

bail

1. to; toward

See baille (“while”)

bail

1. (Sette Comuni) while

   Bail de khatza napfet de mòize spiilnt.

   While that cat naps the mice play.

• baille
• darbàil

• “bail” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

• IPA^(key): /baj/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: baille, baillent, bailles, bye

From bailler.

bail m (plural baux)

1. lease (contract)
2. (colloquial) yonks, ages
   • 2004, David Foenkinos, Le potentiel érotique de ma femme:

     Il disait que ça faisait un bail qu’ils ne s’étaient pas vus, qu’il lui manquait […].

     He was saying that it had been ages since they'd seen each other, and that he missed him.

• contrat de bail

Borrowed from Haitian Creole bagay, from French bagage.

bail m (plural bails)

1. (slang) thing, stuff, affair

   C’est pas les mêmes bails.

   They're not the same things.

   • 2020 October 14, “Plugged In”, 1PLIKÉ140 (lyrics), Fumez The Engineer (music)‎^[6], 1:39–1:41:

     J’suis dans les bails noirs (mmh, mmh), c’est l’bruit qu’t’as fait quand on t’a bâillonné

     I’m into booky tings, mmh, mmh, that’s the noise you made when gagged by us

• “bail”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• abail

From Old Irish bal (“state (of affairs), condition, situation; prosperity, good luck, good effect”); see buil (“effect, result, condition, completion”).

• IPA^(key): /bˠalʲ/

bail f (genitive singular baile)

1. prosperity

   Synonym: rath

   Is fearr bail ná iomad. (proverb)

   Better enough than too much.

2. proper condition, order
3. state
4. treatment
5. validity

• bailchríoch (“finishing touch”)
• gan bhail (“invalid, void”)
• bailigh

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “bail”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “bal”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “bail”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart (in German), volume II, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 58
• “bail”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Originally a reduced form of *bailu, a u-stem parallel form to the archaic singular form baile of bailes “fear” (cf. Lithuanian bailùs (“afraid”)).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [bâjl]

• Audio:

  (file)

bail (+ dat. + (no +) gen.)

1. afraid, scared (in the mental state typical of fear)

   viņam ir bail no suņiem ― he is afraid of dogs

   zēnam kļūst bail ― the boy becomes afraid

   bail, ka nesaaukstējas ― he is afraid of catching a cold

   bail no aukstuma, no ūdens ― afraid of heights, of water

   bail svešu ļaužu ― afraid of strangers

   bail skatīties lejup ― afraid of looking down

   bērnam bail runāt ar svešiem ― the child is afraid of talking to strangers

   man tā vēja bail: tas nolauza manu egli ― I am afraid of that wind: it broke my spruce tree

   man metas bail, ka tiešām Hibšs nekļūst traks ― I suddenly became afraid that Hibšs of all people might go crazy

From Pre-Palauan *bayul, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *balun, form Proto-Austronesian *baluN.

bail

1. cloth

From the root of buil (“consequence, completion, result”)^[1]

bail f

1. thrift, frugality

• baileach
• mì-bhail

From Latin ballista.

bail f

1. sling, ballista