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bald - 6 dictionary results

bald

[bawld]
–adjective
1. having little or no hair on the scalp: a bald head; a bald person.
2. destitute of some natural growth or covering: a bald mountain.
3. lacking detail; bare; plain; unadorned: a bald prose style.
4. open; undisguised: a bald lie.
5. Zoology. having white on the head: the bald eagle.
6. Automotive. (of a tire) having the tread completely worn away.
–verb (used without object)
7. to become bald.
–noun
8. (often initial capital letter) Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a treeless mountaintop or area near the top: often used as part of a proper name.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME ball(e)d, equiv. to ball white spot (cf. Welsh bal, Gk phaliós having a white spot) + -ed -ed 3


baldish, adjective
baldly, adverb
baldness, noun


4. bare, barefaced, flagrant, patent, utter, out-and-out, downright, flat-out.
bald   (bôld)   
adj.   bald·er, bald·est
  1. Lacking hair on the head.
  2. Lacking a natural or usual covering: a bald spot on the lawn.
  3. Lacking treads: a bald tire.
  4. Zoology Having white feathers or markings on the head, as in some birds or mammals.
  5. Lacking ornamentation; unadorned.
  6. Undisguised; blunt: a bald statement of policy.

[Middle English balled, probably from bal, ball; see ball1.]
bald'ly adv., bald'ness n.

Bald

Bald\, a. [OE. balled, ballid, perh. the p. p. of ball to reduce to the roundness or smoothness of a ball, by removing hair. [root]85. But cf. W. bali whiteness in a horse's forehead.]

1. Destitute of the natural or common covering on the head or top, as of hair, feathers, foliage, trees, etc.; as, a bald head; a bald oak.

On the bald top of an eminence. --Wordsworth.

2. Destitute of ornament; unadorned; bare; literal.

In the preface to his own bald translation. --Dryden.

3. Undisguised. " Bald egotism." --Lowell.

4. Destitute of dignity or value; paltry; mean. [Obs.]

5. (Bot.) Destitute of a beard or awn; as, bald wheat.

6. (Zo["o]l.) (a) Destitute of the natural covering. (b) Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced.

Bald buzzard (Zo["o]l.), the fishhawk or osprey.

Bald coot (Zo["o]l.), a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.
Language Translation for : bald
Spanish: calvo,
German: kahl,
Japanese: はげた

bald 
1297, ballede, probably from Celt. bal "white patch, blaze" especially on the head of a horse or other animal (from PIE base *bhel- "gleaming, white") + M.E. -ede adjectival suffix. The PIE base is also the source of Skt. bhalam "brightness, forehead," Gk. phalos "white," L. fulcia "coot" (so called for the white patch on its head), Alb. bale "forehead," O.C.S. belu "white," Lith. balnas "pale." The proper name Ballard probably means "bald head," cf. Wyclif "Stye up, ballard," where Coverdale translates "Come vp here thou balde heade" [2 Kg.2:23-24, where God kills 42 children for making fun of Elijah's lack of hair.] Bald eagle first attested 1688.

Main Entry: bald
Pronunciation: 'bold
Function: adjective
: lacking all or a significant part of the hair on the head or sometimes on other parts of the body —bald intransitive verb

bald (bôld)
adj. bald·er, bald·est
Lacking hair on the head.

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