bale

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

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

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

Etymology 1[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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[edit]

bale (plural bales)

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

Etymology 3[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive) To wrap into a bale.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 4[edit]

Alternative spelling of bail

Verb[edit]

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[edit]
to remove water from a boat — see bail

See also[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Buginese[edit]

Noun[edit]

bale

  1. fish

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

bale

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of balen

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Alternate forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Gaulish *balu.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bale f (uncountable)

  1. chaff (inedible casing of a grain seed)

Kapampangan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

balé

  1. house

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bale (plural bales)

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

Adjective[edit]

bale

  2. decisive, ruinous, vicious
  3. tormentuous, painful, hurtful
References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bale

  2. Any large fire; a bonfire or pyre.
  3. A fire for inhumation; a funeral pyre.
  4. A fire for execution or killing.
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

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

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bale (plural bales)

  2. A bale (rounded bundle)
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

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[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

bale f pl (plural only)

  1. slobber, drool, dribble, saliva

Declension[edit]

declension of bale (plural only)
plural
f gender indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (niște) bale balele
genitive/dative (unor) bale balelor
vocative

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Verb[edit]

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[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French ballet.

Noun[edit]

bale (definite accusative baleyi, plural baleler)

  1. ballet
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