bale

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English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English bale (evil), from Old English bealu, from Proto-West Germanic *balu, 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.
Derived terms

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

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 fibers (especially hay, straw, cotton, or wool), compacted for shipping and handling and bound by twine or wire.
    Hyponyms: haybale, strawbale
  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.
  5. A block of compressed cannabis.
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
Further reading

Verb

bale (third-person singular simple present bales, present participle baling, simple past and past participle baled)

  1. (transitive) To wrap into a bale.
Derived terms
Translations

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

Further reading

Anagrams

Basque

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish vale.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bale/
  • Rhymes: -ale
  • Hyphenation: ba‧le

Interjection

bale

  1. (Southern, colloquial) okay
    Synonym: ados

Further reading

  • "bale" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
  • bale” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus

Buginese

Noun

bale

  1. Alternative spelling of balé (fish)

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

bale

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of balen

Anagrams

French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Gaulish *balu.

Pronunciation

Noun

bale f (uncountable)

  1. chaff (inedible casing of a grain seed)

Further reading

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French balai.

Pronunciation

Noun

bale

  1. broom

Verb

bale

  1. to sweep

Javanese

Romanization

bale

  1. Dated spelling of balé. Romanization of ꦧꦭꦺ

Kapampangan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bəˈle/,
  • Hyphenation: ba‧le

Noun

balé

  1. house

Derived terms

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English bealu, from Proto-West Germanic *balu, from Proto-Germanic *balwą.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

bale (plural bales)

  1. An evil or wrong act; a bad deed.
  2. Maliciousness, iniquity, damage.
  3. Devastation and doom; the causing of lifelessness.
  4. Woe or torment; hurting, agony.
Related terms
Descendants
  • English: bale (dated)
References

Adjective

bale

  1. decisive, ruinous, vicious
  2. tormentuous, painful, hurtful
References

Etymology 2

Either from Old English bǣl, Old Norse bál, or a conflation of both; in any case, from Proto-Germanic *bēlą.

Pronunciation

Noun

bale

  1. Any large fire; a bonfire or pyre.
  2. A fire for inhumation; a funeral pyre.
  3. A fire for execution or killing.
Related terms
Descendants
References

Etymology 3

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

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

bale (plural bales)

  1. A bale (rounded bundle)
Descendants
References

North Moluccan Malay

Etymology

From Classical Malay باليق (balik). The noun sense is derived from how papeda is served by turning it around a pair of tongs; a serving is thus called a turn of papeda.

Pronunciation

Verb

bale

  1. (intransitive) to turn around
  2. (intransitive) to reverse

Noun

bale

  1. (of papeda, etc.) a portion, serving
    lima bale, bukang lima bokorfive portions, not five bowls

References

  • Betty Litamahuputty (2012) Ternate Malay: Grammar and Texts

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

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

  1. Alternative form of bala

Old Javanese

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *balay, from Proto-Austronesian *balay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ba.le/
  • Rhymes: -le
  • Hyphenation: ba‧le

Noun

bale

  1. open building
  2. pavilion
  3. hall

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  • "bale" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

Pali

Alternative forms

Noun

bale

  1. locative singular of bala (strength)

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

Verb

bale

  1. inflection of balar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
  2. inflection of balir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited 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.

Pronunciation

Noun

bale f pl (plural only)

  1. slobber, drool, dribble, saliva
    Synonym: salivă

Declension

Derived terms

Saterland Frisian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Uncertain. Perhaps a corruption of Old Frisian *babbelia (to babble), whence also Saterland Frisian babbelje.

Pronunciation

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

Verb

bale

  1. (intransitive) to speak

Conjugation

Derived terms

References

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

Spanish

Verb

bale

  1. inflection of balar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Tagalog

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Spanish vale, third-person singular present indicative form of valer (to be worth), from Old Spanish valer. Compare Chavacano vale.

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: ba‧le
  • IPA(key): /ˈbale/,
  • Rhymes: -ale

Noun

bale (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜎᜒ)

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

Adverb

bale (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜎᜒ)

  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 (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜎᜒ)

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

Derived terms

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French ballet.

Noun

bale (definite accusative baleyi, plural baleler)

  1. ballet