bail

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See also baìl

Contents

English [edit]

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Wikipedia

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

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”).

Noun [edit]

bail (plural bails)

  1. Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
    • 2009, George Cole; 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.
    • Captain Cook
      The bail of a canoe […] made of a human skull.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
security
release from imprisonment on payment of such money
person providing such payment.
bucket or scoop

Verb [edit]

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 11 February, David Barrett, “Rupert Murdoch moves to reassure Sun staff after arrests”, The Telegraph, 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) To remove water from a boat by scooping it out.
  5. To set free; to deliver; to release.
    • Spenser
      Ne none there was to rescue her, ne none to bail.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to remove water

Etymology 2 [edit]

by shortening from bail out, which comes from etymology 1

Verb [edit]

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

  1. (slang) To exit quickly.
    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. (informal) To fail to meet a commitment.
    • 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."

Etymology 3 [edit]

From Middle English beyl, from Old Norse beygla (“a bend, ring or hoop”)

Noun [edit]

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.
    • 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.
  7. (furniture) Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail, as the wire bail handle shown in the drawing.

Verb [edit]

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.

Etymology 4 [edit]

From French baillier.

Verb [edit]

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) To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up. (Usually with up.)
    • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 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.

Anagrams [edit]

French [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From bailler.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

bail m (plural baux)

  1. lease
  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.

Irish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old Irish bal.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /bˠalʲ/

Noun [edit]

bail f

  1. prosperity
  2. proper condition, order

Declension [edit]

Declension of bail

Second declension

Bare forms (no plural form of this noun)

Case Singular
Nominative bail
Vocative a bhail
Genitive baile
Dative bail

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular
Nominative an bhail
Genitive na baile
Dative leis an mbail

don bhail

Mutation [edit]

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
bail bhail mbail
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Scottish Gaelic [edit]

Noun 1 [edit]

bail f

  1. thrift, frugality

Derived terms [edit]

Noun 2 [edit]

bail f

  1. sling, ballista
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