▪ I. bald, a.
(bɔːld)
Forms: 3–5 ballede, 4–5 balled, -yd, -id, -it, 5 belde, bellyde, 5–7 balde, 6 baulde, 7 bal'd, ball'd, 8–9 Sc. beld, 6– bald.
[ME. balled, of uncertain origin; in sense 1, apparently a ppl. form from ball v. or n., with the sense of ‘protuberant or rounded like a ball,’ whence possibly ‘smooth,’ and, as applied to the head, ‘hairless.’ But the analogy of many words for ‘bald’ in various langs., in which the sense arises out of that of ‘shining, white,’ or esp. that of ‘having a white patch on the forehead,’ as in ‘bald-faced stag,’ ‘bald-coot,’ with the actual appearance of this sense in ball n.2, strongly favours the idea that ME. ball-ed was a derivative of the latter (cf. also ballard), which is with evident propriety referred to Welsh bàl, as explained under sense 5. The chief difficulty is the rarity of the simple ball, and lack of early instances to prove its Eng. use before the appearance of ball-ed. For the termination, Sievers compares OE. -ede (OS. -odi) used esp. of bodily defects, as in heal-ede ruptured, hofer-ede hunchbacked, etc.
Cf. the analogy of MDu. blaer ‘bald’ and blare, Du. blaar ‘white patch on the forehead’ of a horse, etc.; also of MHG. blas ‘bald,’ earlier ‘shining,’ and blasse ‘white patch on the forehead’; also of Du. bles ‘bald’ and blesse; and see blas in Grimm; also Wedgwood and Skeat. Cf. also Gr. ϕαλακρός ‘bald,’ lit. ‘white- or shining-pated.’ There seems little ground for the suggestion of Kluge that balled represents a lost OE. *bællod = *bærlod, Goth. *bazloþs, from OTeut. baz-oz bare.]
I. Literal senses.
† 1. ? Rotund, of full habit, corpulent. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 377 Suyþe þycke man he was..Gret womede & ballede. Ibid. 429 Ballede he was, & þycke of breste, of body vat also. [Cf. also bolled.] |
2. a. Having no hair on some part of the head where it would naturally grow; hairless.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 198 His heed was ballid, and schon as eny glas. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. III. 285 A balled fortop [recalva fronte]. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. v. iv. (1495) 108 The formeste partye of the heede wexyth soone balde. 1474 Caxton Chesse 55 Julius Cesar was ballyd wherof he had displaisir. 1483 Cath. Angl. 27 To make belde (v.r. bellyde), decaluere. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 70 The plaine bald pate of Father time himselfe. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2724/4 Wears his own Hair but ball'd on the fore part of his Head. 1794 Burns J. Anderson, But now your brow is beld, John. 1870 Geo. Eliot Middlem. i. v, Dreadful to see the skin of his bald head moving about. |
b. fig. esp. in reference to the necessity of ‘seizing time by the forelock.’
| c 1590 Marlowe Jew of M. v. ii, Begin betimes; Occasion's bald behind; Slip not thine opportunity. 1606 Dekker Sev. Sins vi. (Arb.) 40 Thy Inhabitants Shaue their Consciences so close, that in the ende they growe balde, and bring foorth no goodnesse. 1663 Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. 259 They let those opportunities grow old..and suffer them to be bald before they mind to apprehend them. |
3. Without hair (feathers, etc.) on other parts of the body than the head.
| c 1340 Cursor M. (Fairf.) 3490 Þe first was borne [Esau] was rughe of hare, Þe toþer childe was ballede [Cott. smeth, Gött. sleyht, Trin. sleiȝte] and bare. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 407 Beavers..have been found bald on the back. 1640 W. Hodgson Div. Cosmogr. 97 Eagles moult off their feathers, and so become bald. 1771 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXII. 6, I..do not find that their [Rabbits'] ears are balder than those of a Hare. |
4. transf. Without the usual or natural covering (in various senses): a. Of trees, mountains, etc.: Leafless, treeless, barren, bare. b. Of cloth: Napless. c. Of wheat, grain, etc.: Awnless, beardless. † d. Of persons: Bare-headed. e. Of eyes: Lidless, staring.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 106 An old Oake, whose bows were moss'd with age, And high top bald with drie antiquitie. 1607 ― Cor. iv. v. 206 The Senators..stand bald before him. 1610 ― Temp. iv. 238 Now Ierkin you are like to lose your haire, & proue a bald Ierkin. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. vii. 166 Where a place is bald of wood. c 1800 Coleridge Chamouni, Thy bald, awful head, O sovran Blanc! 1804 J. Roberts Pennsylv. Farmer 114 What kind is the most productive,..bearded or bald? 1809 J. Barlow Columb. iii. 414 The bald eyes [of a dead tiger] glare, the paws depend below. 1840 C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer I. x. 116 There's a ledge of bald rock to the left yonder. 1856 Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. VII. 805 He..raises..the old-fashioned bald or bearded wheat. 1872 E. Eggleston End of World xli. 257 A large bald hill overlooking the Ohio was to be the mount of ascension. 1878 Tennyson Q. Mary i. i. 7 Fray'd i' the knees, and out at elbow, and bald o' the back. 1919 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 654/1 Egyptian cotton-seed..is devoid of these short fibres, and hence is commonly termed ‘bald’ seed. 1946 R. S. Thomas Stones of Field 14 The bald Welsh hills. |
f. Of a tyre: having a worn tread. colloq.
| [1938 Amer. Speech XIII. 308/1 [Bus drivers] Bald-headed tires, tires, the tread of which is worn off and the white fabric shows through.] 1958 Motor 1 Jan. 868/1 An elderly, thin, tyre that has grown bald in its master's service. 1962 Observer 21 Jan. 38/3 The insurance company would not pay for the damage because his tyres were bald. 1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 39/1 The National Bureau of Standards [of U.S.A.]..defined ‘bald’ to mean a tire with one-sixteenth of an inch of tread or less. 1984 Times 20 Oct. 3/1 Basra was stopped by the police for a bald tyre while driving home from work. |
5. Streaked or marked with white. [Cf. Welsh ceffyl bàl a horse with a white streak or mark on the face (F. cheval belle-face), where bàl may be an adj., or a n. construed as a genitive.]
| [1594 Barnfield Aff. Sheph. i. xxviii, I haue a pie-bald Curre to hunt the Hare.] 1690 Lond. Gaz. No. 2575/4 A black Mare with 3 white Feet, and a bald Face. 1711 Ibid. No. 4848/4 Strayed..a black bald Gelding. |
II. Figurative. (Cf. slight a. and G. blasz.)
6. Bare or destitute of meaning or force; lacking in pregnant import or vividness of description; meagre, trivial, paltry.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 41 And Bringeþ forþ Ballede Resouns. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 428 b, What a bald devise is this of the man? 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 63 b, Had rather heare a iarring black-sant, then one of theyr balde sermons. 1791 Boswell Johnson 8 Apr. 1775, Tom Davies repeated, in a very bald manner, the story of Dr. Johnson's first repartee to me. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. 224 The meaning dwindles into some bald truism. |
7. Bare or destitute of ornament and grace; unadorned, meagrely simple: a. of literary style.
| 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurd. 22 Bald affected eloquence. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 1365 Translated word for word..into bald Latine. 1851 G. Brimley Ess. 123 To translate into bald prose those high-coloured and nobly musical passages of the Prelude. |
b. of works of art, buildings, etc.
| 1825 Ld. Cockburn Mem. 286 In towns the great modern object has..been..to reduce everything to the dullest and baldest uniformity. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. vii, Thro' the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day. |
8. Undisguised, palpable, evident.
| 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon II. xviii. 343 Admitted, in all its bald baseness. 1870 Lowell Among Bks. Ser. ii. (1873) 314 A bald egotism which is quite above and beyond selfishness. |
III. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic deriv., as bald-crowned (sense 2), bald-nosed (sense 5). See also bald-coot, -faced, eagle, -head, -pate, -rib, and bald buzzard, kite, locust, etc.
| 1689 Ibid. 2503/4 A brown Gelding..bald Nosed. 1716 Ibid. 5494/4 A..well-set Man, bald-crowned. |
▪ II. † bald, v. Obs.
(bɔːld)
[f. prec.]
To make bald. deprive of hair. lit. and fig.
| 1602 W. Fulbecke Pandects 78 In Germany they vse to cut off the heare of an adultresse..I haue seene some of them balded here in Englande. 1628 Feltham Resolves i. iv. (1647) 9 While..Winter bald's the shag-hair'd wood. |
▪ III. bald, n.
[f. bald a.]
1. A mountain summit or region naturally bare of forest, esp. in the southern Appalachians. U.S.
| 1838 Southern Lit. Messenger IV. 231/2 We came to the top of the near Bald. 1885 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts. i. 2 She paused often, and looked idly..at the great ‘bald’ of the mountain. 1943 R. Peattie et al. Great Smokies 154 Aboriginally, the Appalachian forests were vast in extent, clothing the mountains, except for the ‘balds’, from top to bottom. |
2. A species of domestic pigeon; = bald-head (quot. 1867).
| 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 21/2 For the best pair of Balds or Beards. 1876 R. Fulton Illustr. Bk. Pigeons xi. 172 There are plenty of the pleasant-faced Balds which are all that could be desired in colour and marking. Ibid. 173 The Bald has so many white flights in each wing. |
▪ IV. bald
early and north. form of bold.