Bale
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Evil, especially considered as an active force for destruction or death. uncountable
- 2 A large fire, a conflagration or bonfire. obsolete
- 3 A rounded bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation.
"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."
- 4 a large bundle bound for storage or transport wordnet
- 5 Suffering, woe, torment. uncountable
"That other ſwayne, like aſhes deadly pale, Lay in the lap of death, rewing his wretched bale."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 A funeral pyre. archaic
- 7 A bundle of compressed fibers (especially hay, straw, cotton, or wool), compacted for shipping and handling and bound by twine or wire.
- 8 A beacon-fire. archaic
- 9 A measurement of hay equal to 10 flakes. Approximately 70-90 lbs (32-41 kg).
- 10 A measurement of paper equal to 10 reams.
- 11 A block of compressed cannabis.
- 12 A group of turtles. collective
- 1 To wrap into a bale. transitive
- 2 To remove water from a boat with buckets etc. British
- 3 make into a bale wordnet
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A municipality of Croatia.
Example
More examples"Bale was fouled, and his team was awarded a free kick."
Etymology
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”).
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).
From Middle English bale (“bale”), from Old French bale and Medieval Latin bala, of Germanic origin. Doublet of ball.
Alternative spelling of bail.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.