bale

See also: Bale, ɓale, bále, Bâle, balé, balê, balë, ba-lê, and Ba Lê

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beɪ̯l/, [ˈbeɪ̯(ə)ɫ], [beə̯ɫ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: bail

Etymology 1

From Middle English bale (“evil”), Old English bealo, 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.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:

     That other swayne, like ashes deadly pale, / Lay in the lap of death, rewing his wretched bale.

   • c. 1608, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus (Act I, Scene 1):

     "Rome and her rats are at the point of battle; / The one side must have bale."

Derived terms

• baleful

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

• balefire

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 wool or hay, compacted for shipping and handling.
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.

Coordinate terms

• (measurement of paper): bundle, quire, ream

Derived terms

• bale of dice

Translations

rounded bundle of goods

• Belarusian: цюк m (cjuk)
• Bulgarian: бала (bg) (bala), денк (bg) (denk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 捆包 (zh) (kǔnbāo), 包 (zh) (bāo), 捆 (zh) (kǔn)

• Finnish: paali (fi)
• French: ballot (fr) m
• German: Ballen (de) m
• Greek: βασταγή (el) f (vastagí)
• Hungarian: bála (hu)

• Indonesian: bal (id)
• Interlingue: balle
• Italian: balla (it) f
• Japanese: 俵 (ja) (たわら, tawara)
• Persian: بغچه‎ (fa) (boqče), بلغنده‎ (fa) (balqande)
• Portuguese: fardo (pt) m
• Russian: тюк (ru) m (tjuk), ки́па (ru) f (kípa)
• Slovak: bal (sk) m
• Spanish: bala (es) f
• Ukrainian: тюк m (tjuk)

bundle of compressed wool or hay

• Bulgarian: бала (bg) (bala)
• Finnish: paali (fi)
• French: botte (fr) f
• Greek: δεμάτι (el) n (demáti)
• Hungarian: bála (hu)

• Italian: balla (it) f
• Maori: pēre, paere
• Portuguese: fardo (pt) m
• Yiddish: באַלן‎ m (baln)

measurement of hay

• Finnish: paali (fi)
• French: botte (fr) f

• Hungarian: bála (hu)

measurement of paper

• Finnish: pakka (fi)
• Hungarian: bála (hu)

• Spanish: bala (es) f

See also

• Units of paper quantity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To wrap into a bale.

Translations

to wrap into a bale

• Bulgarian: балирам (baliram)
• Finnish: paalata (fi), paalittaa
• German: paketieren (de)
• Hungarian: báláz (hu)

• Maori: pēre
• Portuguese: enfardar (pt)
• Spanish: embalar (es)
• Turkish: paketlemek (tr)

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

to remove water from a boat — see bail

See also

• Bale in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• -able, Abel, Able, Beal, Blea, Ebla, Elba, able, albe, bael, beal, blea

---

Buginese

Noun

bale

1. fish

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

bale

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of balen

Anagrams

• Abel

---

French

Alternative forms

• balle

Etymology

From Gaulish *balu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bal/

Noun

bale f (uncountable)

1. chaff (inedible casing of a grain seed)

---

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French balai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.le/

Noun

bale

1. broom

Verb

bale

1. to sweep

---

Kapampangan

Etymology

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

Noun

balé

1. house

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English bealo, from Proto-Germanic *balwą.

Alternative forms

• balu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːl(ə)/

Noun

bale (plural bales)

2. An evil or wrong act; a bad deed.
3. Maliciousness, iniquity, damage.
4. Devastation and doom; the causing of lifelessness.
5. Woe or torment; hurting, agony.

Related terms

• baleful
• bale-siðe

Descendants

• English: bale (dated)

References

• “bāle (n.(1))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

Adjective

bale

2. decisive, ruinous, vicious
3. tormentuous, painful, hurtful

References

• “bāle (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baːl/

Noun

bale

2. Any large fire; a bonfire or pyre.
3. A fire for inhumation; a funeral pyre.
4. A fire for execution or killing.

Related terms

• bale-fyre

Descendants

• English: bale (archaic)
• Scots: bale

References

• “bāl(e (n.(2))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

Etymology 3

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

Alternative forms

• bala, ball

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːl(ə)/

Noun

bale (plural bales)

2. A bale (rounded bundle)

Descendants

• English: bale

References

• “bāle (n.(3))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
• “bale” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

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

1. Alternative form of bala

---

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈba.li/
  • Homophone: Bali

Verb

bale

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of balar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of balar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of balar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of balar
5. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of balir
6. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of balir

---

Romanian

Etymology

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.

Noun

bale f pl (plural only)

1. slobber, drool, dribble, saliva

Declension

declension of bale (plural only)

	plural
f gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(niște) bale	balele
genitive/dative	(unor) bale	balelor
vocative

Synonyms

• salivă

Derived terms

• bălos

---

Spanish

Verb

bale

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of balar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of balar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of balar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of balar.

---

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French ballet.

Noun

bale (definite accusative baleyi, plural baleler)

1. ballet