Bale Meaning
/beɪl/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounEvil, especially considered as an active force for destruction or death.
nounSuffering, woe, torment.
Sentence Examples
Bale was fouled, and his team was awarded a free kick.
Christian Bale is my favorite actor.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The farmer tied the hay into a tight ____ before loading it.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The farmer loaded a heavy ____ of hay onto the back of his truck.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English bale (“evil”), from Old English bealu, from Proto-West Germanic *balu, from Proto-Germanic *balwą. Cognate with Low German bal- (“bad, ill”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (balweins, “torture”), Old High German balo (“destruction”), Old Norse bǫl (“disaster”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"That other ſwayne, like aſhes deadly pale,
Lay in the lap of death, rewing his wretched bale."
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 441:
"Rome, and her Rats, are at the point of battell,
The one ſide muſt haue baile."
— c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 2, column 2:
"Ffor if you wold comfort me with a kisse,
Then were I brought ffrom bale to blisse,
Noe longer here wold I lye."
— 1885, “Sir Cawline”, in Francis James Child, editor, The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 2:
"So having made up my mind, I packed up in bales a quantity of precious stuffs suited for sea-trade and repaired with them from Baghdad-city to Bassorah-town, where I found ship ready for sea, and in her a company of considerable merchants."
— 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The farmer tied the hay into a tight ____ before loading it.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The farmer loaded a heavy ____ of hay onto the back of his truck.