bold

See also: Bold

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊld/, [ˈbɒʊ(ɫ)d]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /boʊld/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /baʉld/, [bɒʊ(ɫ)d]
• Rhymes: -əʊld
• Homophone: bowled

Etymology 1

From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to bloat, swell, bubble”).

Cognate with Dutch boud (“bold, courageous, fearless”), Middle High German balt (“bold”) (whence German bald (“soon”)), Swedish båld (“bold, dauntless”). Perhaps related to Albanian ballë (“forehead”) and Old Prussian balo (“forehead”). For semantic development compare Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold, daring, insolent”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).

Adjective

bold (comparative bolder or more bold, superlative boldest or most bold)

1. Courageous, daring.

   Antonyms: risk-averse; conservative; reluctant

   Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.

   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 239c:

     It would be extraordinarily bold of me to give it a try after seeing what has happened to you.

2. Visually striking; conspicuous.

   the painter's bold use of colour and outline

3. (typography, of typefaces) Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.

   Many bold fonts are available on this computer.

   In HTML, wrapping text in <b> and </b> tags produces bold text.

4. Presumptuous, forward or impudent.
   • 1748, [David Hume], “Essay I. On the different Species of Philosophy.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part I, page 18:

     […] even the boldeſt and moſt affirmative Philoſophy, which has ever attempted to impoſe its crude Dictates and Principles on Mankind.

5. (Ireland) Naughty; insolent; badly-behaved.

   All of her children are terribly bold and never do as they are told.

6. Full-bodied.
7. (Philippines) Pornographic; depicting nudity.
8. Steep or abrupt.
   • 1808, William Bernard Cooke, A New Picture of the Isle of Wight, page 144:

     The grounds descend with a bold slope to the water's edge, and rise finely upwards above the mansion, abounding with fine trees, and ornamented by a range of building at a distance, in a corresponding style […]

Synonyms

• (courageous): audacious, brave, courageous, daring, forward, doughty
• See also Thesaurus:brave

Derived terms

• blackboard bold
• boldacious
• bold as brass
• boldface
• bold-faced
• boldfaced
• bold film
• boldhead
• bold-hearted
• boldish
• boldly
• bold move, Cotton
• bold movie
• boldship
• bold star
• demibold
• extrabold
• fortune favors the bold
• fortune favours the bold
• if I may be so bold
• make bold
• nonbold
• overbold
• semibold
• superbold
• ultrabold
• unbold

 

Related terms

• bield
• bolden
• boldness
• embolden

Translations

courageous, daring

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: جسور (gasūr)

• Armenian: քաջ (hy) (kʻaǰ), խիզախ (hy) (xizax), հանդուգն (hy) (handugn)
• Assamese: সাহসী (xahoxi)
• Bashkir: ҡыйыу (qıyıw), баҙнатсыл (baźnatsıl)
• Bengali: সাহসী (bn) (śahośi)
• Bulgarian: смел (bg) (smel), хра́бър (bg) (hrábǎr)
• Catalan: agosarat (ca)
• Cherokee: ᏍᎦᏎᏅ (sgasenv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 膽大／胆大 (zh) (dǎndà), 勇敢 (zh) (yǒnggǎn)

• Czech: odvážný (cs) m, smělý (cs) m, troufalý (cs) m
• Danish: modig (da), tapper
• Dutch: moedig (nl)
• Esperanto: aŭdaca (eo)
• Estonian: julge (et), vahva (et), vapper
• Finnish: arastelematon (fi), arkailematon (fi), karski (fi), rohkea (fi), röyhkeä (fi), selväpiirteinen, suorasukainen (fi), urhoollinen (fi), uskalias (fi), voimakas (fi)
• French: hardi (fr), effronté (fr)
• Galician: atufado, afouto, arriscado (gl)
• Georgian: გამბედავი (gambedavi), გულადი (guladi), გაბედული (gabeduli)
• German: mutig (de), wagemutig (de), tapfer (de), kühn (de)
• Greek: τολμηρός (el) (tolmirós), θαρραλέος (el) (tharraléos)

  Ancient: τολμηρός (tolmērós), θαρσαλέος (tharsaléos), τολμήεις (tolmḗeis) (Epic)

• Hebrew: אמיץ (he) m (amitz), אמיצה f (amitza)
• Hungarian: bátor (hu), merész (hu)
• Ido: brava (io), proda (io), kuraja (io), kurajoza (io), kurajema (io)
• Irish: dána, forránach
• Italian: sfrontato (it), ardito (it), audace (it), coraggioso (it), baldo (it)
• Japanese: 勇敢な (ja) (ゆうかんな, yūkan na), 大胆な (ja) (だいたんな, daitan na)
• Latin: audens, audax
• Macedonian: хра́бар (hrábar), смел (smel)
• Mongolian: зоримог (mn) (zorimog)
• Norwegian: modig (no)
• Old English: beald
• Old Norse: snarr
• Ottoman Turkish: جسور (cesur)
• Persian: جسور (fa) (jasur) (of people), جسورانه (fa) (jasurâne) (of behavior)
• Plautdietsch: driest
• Polish: odważny (pl), śmiały (pl)
• Portuguese: corajoso (pt), bravo (pt), audacioso (pt)
• Romanian: temerar (ro)
• Russian: сме́лый (ru) (smélyj), хра́брый (ru) (xrábryj), отва́жный (ru) (otvážnyj)
• Scots: bauld
• Scottish Gaelic: dàna
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: одважан, храбар

  Roman: odvažan (sh), hrabar (sh)

• Slovak: smelý, odvážny, opovážlivý, trúfalý
• Somali: geesi (so)
• Spanish: audaz (es), intrépido (es), atrevido (es), denodado (es)
• Swedish: modig (sv), djärv (sv)
• Turkish: cesur (tr)
• Vietnamese: dũng cảm (vi), can đảm (vi), gan dạ (vi)
• Yiddish: מוטיק (mutik), דרייסט (dreyst)

having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface

• Armenian: թավ (hy) (tʻav)
• Bashkir: ҡалын (qalın)
• Bulgarian: че́рен (bg) (čéren), получе́рен (polučéren)
• Catalan: negreta (ca) f, gras (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 粗體的／粗体的 (zh) (cūtǐ de)

• Czech: polotučný m, tučný (cs) m, zvýrazněný m
• Danish: fed
• Dutch: vet (nl), vetgedrukt (nl)
• Esperanto: grasa (eo)
• Estonian: paks (et)
• Finnish: lihavoitu (fi)
• French: gras (fr)
• German: fett (de)
• Hebrew: דגוש (he) m (dagush), בולט (he) m (bolet')
• Hungarian: félkövér (hu)
• Ido: grasa (io)
• Ingrian: paksu
• Italian: grassetto (it)
• Japanese: 太字の (ja) (ふとじの, futoji no), ボールド体の (bōrudo-tai no), ボールド (ja) (bōrudo)
• Macedonian: заде́белен (zadébelen)
• Maori: taikaha, taekaha, miramira
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fet (no)

• Persian: پررنگ (porrang), ضخیم (fa) (zaxim)
• Polish: tłusty (pl), pogrubiony, wytłuszczony
• Portuguese: negrito (pt)
• Romanian: gras (ro), aldin (ro)
• Russian: жи́рный (ru) (žírnyj), полужи́рный (ru) (polužírnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: trom
• Serbo-Croatian: podebljan
• Spanish: negrita (es)
• Swedish: fet (sv), fetstilt, fetstil (sv)
• Turkish: kalın (tr)

presumptuous — see presumptuous

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} berani (id)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} audax
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} pusjuodis

Etymology 2

From Middle English bolden, balden, from Old English baldian, bealdian, from Proto-Germanic *balþōną, related to *balþaz (see above). Cognate with Old High German irbaldōn (“to become bold, dare”).

Verb

bold (third-person singular simple present bolds, present participle bolding, simple past and past participle bolded)

1. (transitive, informal) To make (a font or some text) bold.

   Synonyms: boldface, embolden

   Coordinate terms: italicize, strike through, underline

   Please bold all these subheads.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To make bold or daring.
   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     […] for this buſines,
     It touches vs, as France inuades our land
     Not bolds the King, with others whome I feare,
     Moſt iuſt and heauy cauſes make oppoſe.

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To become bold or brave.

Synonyms

• embolden

Derived terms

• nonbolded
• unbolded

 

Etymology 3

From Middle English bold, from Old English bold, blod, bolt, botl (“house, dwelling-place, mansion, hall, castle, temple”), from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą (“house, dwelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, wax, swell”) or *bʰuH-.

Cognate with Old Frisian bold (“house”) (whence North Frisian bol, boel, bøl (“house”)), North Frisian bodel, budel (“property, inheritance”), Middle Low German būdel (“property, real estate”). Related to build.

Alternative forms

• bolde, boolde (both obsolete)

Noun

bold (plural bolds)

1. (obsolete) A dwelling; habitation; building.

Related terms

• bottle
• build

Anagrams

• BLOD

Cebuano

Etymology

From English bold, from 1940s-1970s bold film (exploitation film).

Adjective

bold

1. naked, nude
2. pornographic

Danish

Alternative forms

• boldt (archaic)

Etymology

From Old Norse bǫllr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈb̥ʌlˀd̥]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌld

Noun

bold c (singular definite bolden, plural indefinite bolde)

1. ball

Declension

Declension of bold

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bold	bolden	bolde	boldene
genitive	bolds	boldens	boldes	boldenes

Derived terms

• fodbold
• tennisbold

Further reading

• “bold” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “bold” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bold/, [boɫd]

Noun

bold n

1. Alternative form of botl

Declension

Declension of bold (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	bold	bold
accusative	bold	bold
genitive	boldes	bolda
dative	bolde	boldum

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic бодль (bodlĭ), from Proto-Slavic *bodъľь (“needle, pointy tip”). Compare Bulgarian бодил (bodil).

Noun

bold n (plural bolduri)

1. pin

Declension

Declension of bold

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) bold	boldul	(niște) bolduri	boldurile
genitive/dative	(unui) bold	boldului	(unor) bolduri	boldurilor
vocative	boldule		boldurilor

Derived terms

• îmboldi

See also

• ac

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English bold.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈbold/ [ˈbold̪]
• Rhymes: -old
• Syllabification: bold

Adjective

bold (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜎ᜔ᜇ᜔) (colloquial)

1. naked; nude; depicting nudity

   Synonyms: hubad, nakabold

Noun

bold (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜎ᜔ᜇ᜔) (colloquial)

1. pornography; porn

   Sir, may nanonood ng bold dito.

   Sir, there's someone watching porn here.

Derived terms

• magbold
• nakabold