English

Alternative forms

• bale out

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail money.
2. (transitive, nautical) To remove water from a boat by scooping it out.
3. (transitive, idiomatic) To rescue, especially financially.

   Once again, the industry got itself in trouble and government had to bail it out.

   • 2012, August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal

     Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Aghanistan, is not the first solider to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.

4. (intransitive, with of) To exit an aircraft while in flight.
   • 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     Holmes bailed out of his fighter and parachuted onto an apartment house.

5. (intransitive, idiomatic, slang, with of) To leave (or not attend at all) a place or a situation, especially quickly or when the situation has become undesirable.

   I'm going to bail out of class today.

6. (intransitive, idiomatic, colloquial, with of) To sell all or part of one's holdings in stocks, real estate, a business, etc.

   I'm going to bail out of stocks and buy gold instead.

7. (intransitive, with of) To make a unscheduled voluntary termination of an underwater dive, usually implying the use of an alternative breathing gas supply.

Derived terms

• bailout, bail-out noun
• bail-out adj

Translations

Anagrams

• obitual, tabouli