bald

English

Etymology

From Middle English balled, ballid, bald (“bald”), of uncertain origin. Probably formed from Middle English bal, balle (“ball, round object, knoll, head”). Compare with Old Danish bældet (“bald”).

Alternate etymology has Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌰- (bala-, “shining, grey (of body)”), Old English bǣl (“fire, flame; funeral pyre”) (both from Proto-Germanic *bēlą), Albanian balë (“white spot on the forehead”) and ballë (“forehead”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɔːld/,
• (UK, nonstandard) IPA^(key): /bəʊld/,
• (US) IPA^(key): /bɔld/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /bɑld/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: balled
• Rhymes: -ɔːld

Adjective

bald (comparative balder, superlative baldest)

1. Having no hair, fur or feathers.

   Synonym: hairless

   Antonyms: faxed, haired

   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.

   • 2019, Lynn Enright, Vagina: A Re-Education‎, Atlantic Books, →ISBN:

     Porn didn't revolutionize our pubic hair overnight […] but the general gist is that the vast majority of porn performers in film and magazines had full bushes until Hustler magazine printed a bald vulva, a so-called ‘pink shot’, in 1974.

2. (specifically) Having no hair on the head, or having a large area of bare scalp on top of the head although hair may still grow on the sides and back of the head.

   a bald man with a moustache

   • 2021 March 14, Michael Segalov, “It can leave your self-image fractured”, in The Guardian‎:

     There has never been a bald James Bond nor a hairless contestant on Love Island. Growing up, bald men were never the superheroes and always the villains.

3. Having areas (of fur or plumage) that are coloured white, especially on the head. (of animals)
4. (by extension) Denuded of any covering.

   The bald cypress is a tree that loses its leaves in winter.

5. Of tyres: whose surface is worn away.
6. (of a statement or account) Unembellished.
   • 1922, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Black Doctor:

     Such is a bald statement of the singular and romantic series of events which centred public attention upon this Lancashire tragedy.

   • 1994, Route 9A Reconstruction Project, Battery Place to 59th St.:

     The NYSDOT, through the DSEIS, makes a bald assertion in the DSEIS, but does not explain in detail, why it feels that the Short Bypass Tunnel provides a more appropriate and respectful setting for the WTC Memorial.

   • 2006, João Ferreira Duarte, Alexandra Assis Rosa, Teresa Seruya, Translation Studies at the Interface of Disciplines, →ISBN, page 115:

     Here the existential process (“there is”) functions as a bald assertion of fact, with no hedging or concessions to the observer's subjectivity, while the nominalization (“a significant role-reversal”) activates a pre-existing category from the discourse of Literary Criticism, into which the present "specimen" will be slotted.

7. (of a statement) Without evidence or support being provided.
   • 1891, The Australian law times - Volumes 12-13, page 61:

     The plaintiff in this case must satisfy the judge that she has visible means, the mere bald statement that she has visible means is not suflicient.

   • 2001, Canadian patent reporter, page 194:

     The question regarding this issue is whether the applicant raised sufficient doubts regarding adoption and use of the official mark by the respondent as to have the effect that the respondent's bald assertion is not enough to provide evidence that the official mark was adopted and used or whether a negative inference should be drawn from the failure of the respondent to provide further evidence.

   • 2005, Colin Tredoux, Psychology and Law, →ISBN, page 198:

     The Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 gives police officials the power and discretion to conduct identification procedures 'A bald statement that the accused is the person who committed the crime is not enough ... the greatest care should be taken to test the evidence.

   • 2010, World Trade Organization, Dispute Settlement Reports 2008: Volume 11, →ISBN, page 3959:

     The EC's bald assertion of compliance in the context of this scientific and factual landscape highlights the fact that it has made no effort to demonstrate how its new import ban satisfies the conditions of a "provisional" ban under Article 5.7 of the SPS Agreement or "rationally relates" to or is "reasonably supported" by a risk assessment for purposes of Article 5.1 of the SPS Agreement.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

bald (plural balds)

1. (Appalachia) A mountain summit or crest that lacks forest growth despite a warm climate conducive to such, as is found in many places in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Verb

bald (third-person singular simple present balds, present participle balding, simple past and past participle balded)

1. (intransitive) To become bald.

Translations

See also

• callow
• nott

Further reading

• bald on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Appalachian balds on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• ABDL, DLAB, blad

German

Etymology

From Middle High German balde, from Old High German baldo, adverb of bald, pald, from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-. Cognate with Dutch boud, English bold.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /balt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• audio (Austria)

  (file)

• Homophone: ballt

Adverb

bald (comparative eher or früher, superlative am ehesten or frühesten)

1. soon, near in time

   Synonyms: demnächst, in Kürze, zeitnah

   Bald ist der Urlaub vorbei.

   The vacation will soon be over.

2. almost

   Synonyms: fast, beinahe

   Mit bald 80 Jahren ist mein Vater noch auf Apfelbäume geklettert.

   At almost 80 years, my father still used to climb on apple trees.

3. (repeated) Indicates a quick succession of events.

   bald Regen und bald Sonnenschein

   • 1911, Erwin Rosen [pseudonym; Erwin Carlé], Der Deutsche Lausbub in Amerika [The German prankster in America], page 161:

     Zwischen den Reitern drängten sich Fußgänger; bald im einfachen Flanellhemd und den riemengegürteten Hosen des Westens, bald in eleganten Anzügen und tadelloser weißer Wäsche.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• alsbald
• bis bald
• in Bälde
• sobald

Related terms

• -bold

Further reading

• “bald” in Duden online
• “bald” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɑld/,

Adjective

bald (Anglian)

1. Alternative form of beald

Declension

Old High German

Alternative forms

• pald

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz, whence also Old English beald, Old Norse ballr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bald/

Adjective

bald

1. bold, quick

Derived terms

• baldī (“boldness”)
• baldo

Descendants

• Middle High German: balt
  • German: (obsolete) bald
  • Bavarian: bald

References

• Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz, whence also Old English bald, Old Norse ballr.

Adjective

bald (comparative baldoro, superlative baldost)

1. bold, fearless

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Low German: bald, bold, balt, bolt
  • German Low German: bold, boll