English

Noun

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, Britain) Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
3. (law, Britain) 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.

5. (obsolete) Custody; keeping.
   • Spenser

     Silly Faunus now within their bail.

Derived terms

• jump bail
• out on bail

Translations

Verb

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.
   • 2016 February 11, David Barrett, “Rupert Murdoch moves to reassure Sun staff after arrests”, in 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, transitive) To remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.

   to bail water out of a boat

   • Capt. J. Smith

     buckets […] to bail out the water

5. (nautical, transitive) To remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.

   to bail a boat

   • R. H. Dana, Jr.

     By the help of a small bucket and our hats we bailed her out.

6. To set free; to deliver; to release.
   • Spenser

     Ne none there was to rescue her, ne none to bail.

Derived terms

• bailment
• bailor
• bailee
• bail out

Related terms

• bailiff

Translations

Etymology 2

From a shortening of bail out, which from above.

Verb

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

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

Calf feeding bails in Rosevale, Queensland, March 1952

Noun

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 or feeding.
   • 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.

Translations

Verb

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

From French baillier.

Verb

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

• Albi
• Bali

French

Etymology

From bailler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baj/
• Homophones: baille, baillent, bailles, bye

Noun

bail m ‎(plural baux)

1. lease (contract)
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

Etymology

From Old Irish bal ‎(“state (of affairs), condition, situation; prosperity, good luck, good effect”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bˠalʲ/

Noun

bail f ‎(genitive singular baile)

1. prosperity

   Proverb: Is fearr bail ná iomad.‎ ― Better enough than too much.

2. proper condition, order
3. state
4. treatment
5. validity

Declension

Derived terms

• bailchríoch f ‎(“finishing touch”)
• gan bhail ‎(“invalid, void”)

Synonyms

• (prosperity): rath

Mutation

References

• "bail" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “bal” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Latvian

Etymology

Originally a reduced form of *bailu, an u-stem parallel form to the archaic singular form baile of bailes “fear” (cf. Lithuanian bailùs “afraid”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bâjl]

Adverb

bail (+ dat. + (no +) gen.)

1. afraid, scared (in the mental state typical of fear)

   viņam ir bail no suņiem‎ ― he is afraid of dogs

   zēnam kļūst bail‎ ― the boy becomes afraid

   bail, ka nesaaukstējas‎ ― he is afraid of catching a cold

   bail no aukstuma, no ūdens‎ ― afraid of heights, of water

   bail svešu ļaužu‎ ― afraid of strangers

   bail skatīties lejup‎ ― afraid of looking down

   bērnam bail runāt ar svešiem‎ ― the child is afraid of talking to strangers

   man tā vēja bail: tas nolauza manu egli‎ ― I am afraid of that wind: it broke my spruce tree

   man metas bail, ka tiešām Hibšs nekļūst traks‎ ― I suddenly became afraid that Hibšs of all people might go crazy

References

1. ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “bailes”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

Noun

bail f

1. thrift, frugality

Derived terms

• baileach
• mì-bhail

Etymology 2

Noun

bail f

1. sling, ballista