bale

See also: Bale, ɓale, bále, Bâle, balé, balê, 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”), from 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 Qveene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonby, OCLC 932900760, book VI, canto VII, page 441:

     That other ſwayne, like aſhes deadly pale, / Lay in the lap of death, rewing his wretched bale.

   • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], page 2, column 2:

     Rome, and her Rats, are at the point of battell, / The one ſide muſt haue baile.

Derived terms

• baleful

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

• balefire

Etymology 3

From Middle English bale (“bale”), from Old French bale and Medieval Latin bala, of Germanic origin. Doublet of ball.

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.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:

     So having made up my mind, I packed up in bales a quantity of precious stuffs suited for sea-trade and repaired with them from Baghdad-city to Bassorah-town, where I found ship ready for sea, and in her a company of considerable merchants.

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

• (measurement of paper): bundle, quire, ream

Derived terms

• bale of dice

Translations

rounded bundle of goods

• Belarusian: цюк m (cjuk)
• Bulgarian: бала (bg) (bala), денк (bg) (denk)
• Catalan: fardell (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 捆包 (zh) (kǔnbāo), 包 (zh) (bāo), 捆 (zh) (kǔn)

• Finnish: paali (fi)
• French: ballot (fr) m
• Galician: fardo m, bala f, paca f
• German: Ballen (de) m
• Greek: βασταγή (el) f (vastagí)
• Hungarian: bála (hu)

• Indonesian: bal (id)
• Italian: balla (it) f
• Japanese: 俵 (ja) (たわら, tawara)
• Persian: بغچه‎ (fa) (boqče), بلغنده‎ (fa) (balqande)
• Portuguese: fardo (pt) m
• Russian: тюк (ru) m (tjuk), ки́па (ru) f (kípa)
• Slovak: bal (sk) m
• Spanish: bala (es) f
• Ukrainian: тюк m (tjuk)

bundle of compressed wool or hay

• Bulgarian: бала (bg) (bala)
• Finnish: paali (fi)
• French: botte (fr) f
• Galician: bala f, paca f
• Greek: δεμάτι (el) n (demáti)
• Hungarian: bála (hu)

• Italian: balla (it) f
• Maori: pēre, paere
• Norwegian: høyballe m
• Portuguese: fardo (pt) m
• Walloon: botea m, balot m, rowe di strin f (big round bale)
• Yiddish: באַלן‎ m (baln)

measurement of hay

• Finnish: paali (fi)
• French: botte (fr) f

• Hungarian: bála (hu)

measurement of paper

• Finnish: pakka (fi)
• Hungarian: bála (hu)

• Spanish: bala (es) f

Further reading

• Units of paper quantity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

to wrap into a bale

• Bulgarian: балирам (baliram)
• Finnish: paalata (fi), paalittaa
• German: paketieren (de)
• Hungarian: báláz (hu)

• Maori: pēre
• Portuguese: enfardar (pt)
• Spanish: embalar (es)
• Turkish: paketlemek (tr)

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

to remove water from a boat — see bail

Further reading

• Bale in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• -able, Abel, Able, Beal, Blea, Ebla, Elba, able, albe, bael, beal, blea

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Buginese

Noun

bale

1. fish

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

bale

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of balen

Anagrams

• Abel

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French

Alternative forms

• balle

Etymology

From Gaulish *balu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bal/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

bale f (uncountable)

1. chaff (inedible casing of a grain seed)

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Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French balai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.le/

Noun

bale

1. broom

Verb

bale

1. to sweep

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Javanese

Noun

bale

1. Dated spelling of balé.

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Kapampangan

Etymology

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

Noun

balé

1. house

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Middle English

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• balu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːl(ə)/

Noun

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

• baleful
• bale-siðe

Descendants

• English: bale (dated)

References

• “bāle, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

Adjective

bale

2. decisive, ruinous, vicious
3. tormentuous, painful, hurtful

References

• “bāle, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

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

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

• bale-fyre

Descendants

• English: bale (archaic)
• Scots: bale

References

• “bāl(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

Etymology 3

Probably from Old French bale, balle, from Medieval Latin balla, from Frankish or Old High German balla (“ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz.

Alternative forms

• bala, ball

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːl(ə)/

Noun

bale (plural bales)

2. A bale (rounded bundle)

Descendants

• English: bale

References

• “bāle, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
• “bale”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

bale (present tense balar, past tense bala, past participle bala, passive infinitive balast, present participle balande, imperative bal)

1. Alternative form of bala

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˈba.li/, [ˈba.li]

• IPA^(key): (Portugal) /ˈba.lɨ/, [ˈba.lɨ]

• Homophones: Bali (Brazil), vale (Norte of Portugal)
• Hyphenation: ba‧le

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

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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

declension of bale (plural only)

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

Synonyms

• salivă

Derived terms

• bălos

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Saterland Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːlə/
• Hyphenation: ba‧le

Verb

bale

1. (intransitive) to speak

Conjugation

Conjugation of bale (irregular)

Grúundfoarme: bale
Infinitive: tou balen
Present tense				Past tense
iek	bale	wie	bale	iek	boalde	wie	boalden
du	boalst	jie	bale	du	boaldest	jie	boalden
hie/ju/dät	boalt	jo	bale	hie/ju/dät	boalde	jo	boalden
Present participle		Imperative		Auxiliary		Past participle
balend		Singular: bale		häbe		boald
		Plural: balet

References

• Marron C. Fort (2015), “bale”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

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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.

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Tagalog

Alternative forms

• bali

Etymology

From Spanish vale, third-person singular present indicative form of valer (“to be worth”), from Old Spanish valer, from Latin valēre, present active infinitive of valeō (“to be worth”), from Proto-Italic *walēō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wl̥h₁éh₁yeti, from *h₂welh₁- (“to rule, be strong”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ba‧le
• IPA^(key): /ˈbalɛ/, [ˈbɐlɛ]

Noun

bale

1. (colloquial) worth; value (usually used in the negative)
2. promissory note; credit; IOU
3. request of partial advanced payment

Adverb

bale

1. used to connect previous conversation or events to the following question: so
2. used before stating or enumerating the gist or summary of what is being discussed
3. used as a meaningless filler word to begin a response or when one cannot start to speak

Adjective

bale

1. (colloquial) valuable; important
2. bought on credit

Derived terms

• bale-bale
• balewala
• balihin
• bumale
• hindi bale
• pabalihin

 

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Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French ballet.

Noun

bale (definite accusative baleyi, plural baleler)

1. ballet