Refine this word faster
Bold
Definitions
- 1 Courageous, daring.
"Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals."
- 2 Acronym of blood-oxygen-level dependent. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, not-comparable
- 3 Visually striking; conspicuous.
"the painter's bold use of colour and outline"
- 4 Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
"Many bold fonts are available on this computer."
- 5 Presumptuous, forward or impudent.
"[…] even the boldeſt and moſt affirmative Philoſophy, which has ever attempted to impoſe its crude Dictates and Principles on Mankind."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 Naughty; insolent; badly-behaved. Ireland
"All of her children are terribly bold and never do as they are told."
- 7 Full-bodied.
- 8 Pornographic; depicting nudity. Philippines
"The government warned bus operators against continuing to show bold content on buses."
- 9 Steep or abrupt.
"The grounds descend with a bold slope to the water's edge, and rise finely upwards above the mansion, abounding with fine trees, and ornamented by a range of building at a distance, in a corresponding style […]"
- 1 fearless and daring wordnet
- 2 clear and distinct wordnet
- 3 very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front wordnet
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 A civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. countable, uncountable
- 1 A dwelling; habitation; building. obsolete
- 2 a typeface with thick heavy lines wordnet
- 1 To make (a font or some text) bold. informal, transitive
"Please bold all these subheads."
- 2 To make bold or daring. obsolete, transitive
"[…] for this buſines, It touches vs, as France inuades our land Not bolds the King, with others whome I feare, Moſt iuſt and heauy cauſes make oppoſe."
- 3 To become bold or brave. intransitive, obsolete
Etymology
From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to bloat, swell, bubble”). Cognate with Dutch boud (“bold, courageous, fearless”), Middle High German balt (“bold”) (whence German bald (“soon”)), Swedish båld (“bold, dauntless”). Perhaps related to Albanian ballë (“forehead”) and Old Prussian balo (“forehead”). Compare typologically Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold, daring, insolent”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).
From Middle English bolden, balden, from Old English baldian, bealdian, from Proto-Germanic *balþōną, related to *balþaz (see above). Cognate with Old High German irbaldōn (“to become bold, dare”).
From Middle English bold, from Old English bold, blod, bolt, botl (“house, dwelling-place, mansion, hall, castle, temple”), from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą (“house, dwelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, wax, swell”) or *bʰuH-. Cognate with Old Frisian bold (“house”) (whence North Frisian bol, boel, bøl (“house”)), North Frisian bodel, budel (“property, inheritance”), Middle Low German būdel (“property, real estate”). Related to build.
* As an English surname, from the adjective bold (“daring courageous”) or the noun bold (“dwelling, house”). * As a Swedish and German surname, related to the adjective above, such as in Baldwin and Reinbold.
See also for "bold"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: bold