I. ˈbāl, esp bef pause or cons -āəl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bealu, balu; akin to Old High German balo evil, Old Norse böl, Gothic balwa wesei malice, OCornish bal plague, Old Bulgarian bolŭ sick man
1. : great evil : a malign pernicious influence : harm , disaster
gave him a final look, in which Reith read nothing but bale — D.C.Peattie
the day would come when the thunderous shout “Nika!” would mean bale and woe to her — P.I.Wellman
2. : pain or mental suffering : torment , woe , sorrow
bring us bale and bitter sorrowings, instead of comfort, which we should embrace — Edmund Spenser
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bǣl fire, pyre; akin to Old Norse bāl flame, pyre — more at bald
archaic : a great fire ; especially : a signal fire
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German balla ball — more at ball
1.
a. : a large bundle of goods for storage or transportation ; specifically : a large closely pressed package of merchandise bound with cord, wire, or hoops and usually protected by a wrapping (as of burlap)
a bale of paper
a bale of hay
b. : the amount contained in a bale especially when fixed for a certain commodity and sometimes used as a unit of measure (as in the United States 500 pounds of cotton)
2. archaic : a set usually of three — used of dice
IV. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: bale (III)
: to make up into a bale
loose pulp is baled in units measuring about 18×23×43 inches — H.R.Mauersberger
spend an afternoon baling hay
V.
variant of bail