Word.ws English Dictionary

bail

UK/beɪl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/bæɪl/

bail noun: security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.

bail: security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of...
Image: Agriculture And Stock Department, Information Branch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

bail (countable and uncountable, plural bails)

  1. Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
    • He was granted bail for £20000.
    • I ſuppoſe vve ſhall hardly Rehearſe the Comedy this Morning; for the Author vvas Arreſted as he vvas going home from King's Coffee-houſe; and, as I heard, it vvas for upvvards of Four Pound: I ſuppoſe he vvill hardly get Bail.1736 March 16 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Henry Fielding, Pasquin. A Dramatick Satire on the Times: […], London: […] J. Watts […], published 1736, →OCLC, Act I, page 1
  2. (UK) Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
  3. (UK) The person providing such payment.
  4. A bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.
    • The bail of a canoe […] made of a human skull.1770, James Cook, Voyages Round the World
  5. A person who bails water out of a boat.
  6. (obsolete) Custody; keeping.
    • Silly Faunus now within their baile.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Verb (1)

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

  1. To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.
    • For the first time, the arrests broadened beyond payments to police, with a Ministry of Defence employee and a member of the Armed forces held by police before also being bailed to a date in May.2012 February 11, David Barrett, “Rupert Murdoch moves to reassure Sun staff after arrests”, in The Telegraph, UK
  2. To release a person under such guarantee.
  3. To hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.
    • to bail cloth to a tailor to be made into a garment; to bail goods to a carrier
  4. (intransitive, transitive) To remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.
    • to bail water out of a boat
    • we had hard work to reach our haven, having to bail out the water with my straw hat.November 4, 1857, Henry William Harper, letter to St. John
  5. (transitive) To remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.
    • to bail a boat
    • By the help of a small bucket and our hats we bailed her out.1840, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, Chapter XVIII
  6. To set free; to deliver; to release.
    • Ne none there was to reskue her, ne none to baile.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 7

Verb (2)

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

  1. (intransitive, slang) To leave or exit abruptly.
    • With his engine in flames, the pilot had no choice but to bail.
    • The Teacher Home Visit Program takes a huge commitment—time, energy, patience, diplomacy. Quite a few schools […] have tried it and bailed.2010 September, Jeannette Cooperman, "Bringing It Home", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 62
  2. (informal, intransitive) To fail to meet a commitment (to a person).
    • "No one bails on Bennie Milagros. No one, comprende? I'm gonna hold you to that midnight run — "1997, Eric Lustbader, Dark homecoming
    • And I ain't got no help. Goddamn Fitch bails on me, scrambles over to Finance.1999, Robert Draper, Hadrian's walls

Noun (2)

bail (plural bails)

  1. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).
    • I reached across beneath the cow to attach a metal bail to each end of the strap so that the bail hung about 5 inches below the cow's belly.[…]While stroking and talking to the cow, I reached under and suspended the machine on the bail beneath the cow, with its four suction cups dangling to one...2010, John M. Findley, Just Lucky, page 78
  2. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).
    • More recently, the fixed bail, sometimes called the ‘milking parlour’, with either covered or open yards, has had a certain vogue and some very enthusiastic claims have been made for this method of housing.1953, British Institute of Management, Centre for Farm Management, Farm Management Association, Farm Management, 1960, John Wiley, page 160
    • Ten men thus sufficed for the milking of three hundred cows in five bails, instead of the thirty men who would normally have been employed by conventional methods.2011, Edith H. Whetham, Joan Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume 8: Volumes 1914-1939, page 191
  3. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
  4. (Australia, New Zealand) A frame to restrain a cow during milking or feeding.
    • She had the next bail to me, and told me off in between bucketfuls of milk.1933, Frank Clune, Try Anything Once, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 27
    • But until he had poured enough milk into the vat above the separator, I drove unmilked cows into the bail where he had previously milked and released one. He moved from one bail to the other to milk the next one I had readied. I drove each cow into the empty bail, chained her in, roped the outer...2011, Bob Ellis, Hush Now, Don't Cry, page 153
  5. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
  6. One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.
    • As Jason Roy's throw came in from deep mid-wicket, a diving Guptill was short when Buttler removed the bails, sending England and the whole of Lord's into delirious celebrations.2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport, London
  7. Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.

Verb (3)

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

  1. To secure the head of a cow during milking.

Verb (4)

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

  1. (rare) To confine.
  2. (Australia, New Zealand) To secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
  3. (Australia, New Zealand, usually, with-up) To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up.
    • The transition over the rooftop would have been quicker if Sellers had not been bailed up by a particularly hostile spiritual presence speaking Swedish.2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 128
    • While celebrating our “graduation”, a handsome Scot bailed me up outside a pub and insisted I help him solve the cryptic crossword.2023 January 31, Clem Bastow, “My bad trip – I met a handsome Scot with a crossword and thought it was true love”, in The Guardian

Proper noun capitalized: Bail

Bail (plural Bails)

  1. A surname.

bail meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bail in Hindi

bail
ज़मानत zamānat, ओल ol
to bail
उलीचना ulīcnā

bail in Tamil

பிணை, பிணையில் வெளிவர முடியாத குற்றம்

bail in Marathi

जामीन

bail in Urdu

security
ضمانت zamānat
release from imprisonment on payment of such money
ضَمانَت zamānat
More languagesFewer languages
bail in Bengali
বেল bel
bail in Malayalam
ജാമ്യം jāmyaṁ
bail in Kannada
ಹೊಣೆ, ಜಾಮೀನು, ಹೊಣೆಹಣ, ಚಿನ್ನಿದಾಂಡು
bail in Punjabi
ਜ਼ਮਾਨਤ
bail in Gujarati
ચકલી caklī
bail in Odia
ଜାମିନ, ଜାମିନ୍
bail in Assamese
সিঁচা xĩsa
bail in Nepali
जमानत
bail in Tagalog
piyansa, lagak-panagot, limasin, panlimas
bail in Arabic
كَفَالَة kafāla
bail in Malay
limas, menimba
bail in Persian
وثیقه vasiqe
bail in Vietnamese
tiền tại ngoại, tại ngoại, tại ngoại hậu cứu, người đóng tiền tại ngoại

Examples of bail in a sentence

  • The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution forbids excessive bail, and state bail laws are usually designed to prevent discrimination in setting bail.2009, George Cole with Christopher Smith, The American System of Criminal Justice, International Edition, page 338:
  • The purpose of bail is to ensure the return of the accused at subsequent proceedings.2011, Larry J. Siegel, Criminology, page 658:
  • ‘Bail out! bail out!’ yelled Job, ‘or we shall founder.’ I seized a large tin bowl with a handle to it, which was fixed under one of the seats, and the three of us bailed away for dear life.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
  • A guy who bails on his young wife and son the way he did.2010, David Handler, The Shimmering Blond Sister, page 119:

All 40 example sentences with bail

Forms of bail

Noun
pluralbails
Verb
third-person singular presentbails
present participlebailing
past participlebailed
pastbailed
Proper noun
pluralBails

Past tense of bail: bailed

Plural of bail: bails

Origin of bail

From Middle English baille, from the Old French verb bailler (“to deliver or hand over”) and noun bail (“lease”), from Latin bāiulāre (“carry or bear”), from baiulus (“porter; steward”) (English: bailiff).

From a shortening of bail out, ultimately same as above.

From Middle English beyle, from Old English bīeġels, from bīeġan + -els.

Words formed from bail

Phrases with bail

Words that rhyme with bail

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bail

What does bail mean?
Bail means security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
What is bail in Hindi?
Bail in Hindi is ज़मानत (zamānat), ओल (ol), उलीचना (ulīcnā). See Bail meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bail in a sentence?
The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution forbids excessive bail, and state bail laws are usually designed to prevent discrimination in setting bail.
What part of speech is bail?
Bail can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bail?
Bail is pronounced /beɪl/ (UK).
What is the plural of bail?
The plural of bail is bails.

Words near bail in the dictionary

  1. Baikalian
  2. baikiain
  3. Baikonur
  4. baikree
  5. Baiks
  6. bail
  7. bail bandit
  8. bail bandits
  9. bail bond
  10. bail bonds
  11. bail bondsman

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bail (page history and authors); Bail (page history and authors); उलीचना (Hindi) (page history and authors); bail (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bail (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); বেল (Bengali) (page history and authors); ജാമ്യം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); bail (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bail (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bail (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); সিঁচা (Assamese) (page history and authors); bail (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bale.ogg, en-au-bail.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.