Wiktionary

bale

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bale"

English

edit

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /beɪ̯l/, [ˈbeɪ̯(ə)ɫ], [beə̯ɫ]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪl
  • Homophone: bail

Etymology 1

edit

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

edit

bale (uncountable)

  1. Evil, especially considered as an active force for destruction or death.
  2. Suffering, woe, torment.
Derived terms
edit

Etymology 2

edit

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

edit

bale (plural bales)

  1. (obsolete) A large fire, a conflagration or bonfire.
  2. (archaic) A funeral pyre.
  3. (archaic) A beacon-fire.
Derived terms
edit

Etymology 3

edit

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

edit

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.
  6. (collective noun) A group of turtles.
Coordinate terms
edit
Derived terms
edit
Translations
edit
Further reading
edit

Verb

edit

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
edit
Translations
edit

Etymology 4

edit

Alternative spelling of bail.

Verb

edit

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

  1. (British, nautical) To remove water from a boat with buckets etc.
Translations
edit

Further reading

edit

Anagrams

edit

Basque

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Spanish vale.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /bale/ [ba.le]
  • Rhymes: -ale
  • Hyphenation: ba‧le

Interjection

edit

bale

  1. (Southern, colloquial) okay
    Synonym: ados

Further reading

edit
  • “bale”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], Euskaltzaindia
  • “bale”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Buginese

edit

Noun

edit

bale

  1. Alternative spelling of balé (“fish”)

Dutch

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

bale

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

Anagrams

edit

French

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Gaulish *balu.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

bale f (uncountable)

  1. chaff (inedible casing of a grain seed)

Further reading

edit

Haitian Creole

edit

Etymology

edit

From French balai.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

bale

  1. broom

Verb

edit

bale

  1. to sweep

Javanese

edit

Romanization

edit

bale

  1. Dated spelling of balé. Romanization of ꦧꦭꦺ

Kapampangan

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /bəˈle/ [bəˈlɛː]
  • Hyphenation: ba‧le

Noun

edit

balé

  1. house

Derived terms

edit

Makasar

edit

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /ˈbale/
  • Hyphenation: ba‧le

Adjective

edit

bale (Lontara spelling ᨅᨒᨙ)

  1. savory; umami (e.g. cheese)
    Balei kasiaʼna jukukku ― My fish tastes savory.
  2. delicious; tasty
  3. (of sound or voice) pleasant, satisfactory; nice
    Balei batena aʼbicara ― The way he tells the story is pleasant.

Synonyms

edit

Affixations

edit

Further reading

edit
  • A. A. Cense (2024) Makassaars-Nederlands woordenboek‎[2], Brill, →DOI

Middle English

edit

Etymology 1

edit

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

Alternative forms

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

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.
edit
Descendants
edit
  • English: bale (dated)
References
edit

Adjective

edit

bale

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

Etymology 2

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

bale

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

Etymology 3

edit

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

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

bale (plural bales)

  2. A bale (rounded bundle)
Descendants
edit
References
edit

North Moluccan Malay

edit

Etymology

edit

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

edit

Verb

edit

bale

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

Noun

edit

bale

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

References

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

Norwegian Nynorsk

edit

Verb

edit

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

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

edit

bale

  1. open building
  2. pavilion
  3. hall

Derived terms

edit

Descendants

edit

References

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

Pali

edit

Alternative forms

edit
Alternative scripts

Noun

edit

bale

  1. locative singular of bala (“strength”)

Portuguese

edit

Pronunciation

edit
 

Verb

edit

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

edit

Etymology

edit

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

edit

Noun

edit

bale f pl (plural only)

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

Declension

edit
plural only indefinite definite
nominative-accusative bale balele
genitive-dative bale balelor
vocative

Derived terms

edit

Saterland Frisian

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

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

Verb

edit

bale

  1. (intransitive) to speak

Conjugation

edit
Conjugation of bale (irregular)
Grúundfoarme bale
Infinitive tou balen
Present tense Past tense
iek bale wie bale iek boalde wie boalden
du boalst jie bale du boaldest jie boalden
hie/ju/dät boalt jo bale hie/ju/dät boalde jo boalden
Present participle Imperative Auxiliary Past participle
balend Singular bale häbe boald
Plural balet

Derived terms

edit

References

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

Spanish

edit

Verb

edit

bale

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

Tagalog

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

bale (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜎᜒ)

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

Adverb

edit

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

edit

bale (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜎᜒ)

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

Derived terms

edit

Turkish

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from French ballet.

Noun

edit

bale (definite accusative baleyi, plural baleler)

  1. ballet
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=bale&oldid=82874945"
  NODES
HOME 1
languages 2
Note 2
os 3
text 1