bale

1 of 3

noun (1)

1
: great evil
2
: woe, sorrow
… bring us bale and bitter sorrowings …Edmund Spenser

bale

2 of 3

noun (2)

: a large bundle of goods
specifically : a large closely pressed package of merchandise bound and usually wrapped
a bale of paper
a bale of hay

bale

3 of 3

verb

baled; baling

transitive verb

: to make up into a bale
in the field baling hay
baler noun

Examples of bale in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Co-founder and co-director Morgan Broome told Fox News Digital the group has trucked in nearly 40,000 bales of hay for the cattle. Bradford Betz, Fox News, 7 Mar. 2024 The luxury piece is available in both 14k white gold and yellow gold, featuring a pave diamond bale on a rope chain. Anna Tingley, Variety, 12 Feb. 2024 Because bales are so cheap, however, most merchants need only sell 40 percent to turn a profit. Julia Shipley, WIRED, 13 Jan. 2024 Material from the tournament goes through an initial sortation process at off-site facilities, where 500-pound bales are broken open by industrial equipment to separate various bottles and other items. Erik Matuszewski, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2024 After winning the first two races, Secretariat became lethargic, trained poorly, and reduced his daily input of hay from 23 to a few bales of hay per day. Torie Bosch, STAT, 17 Feb. 2024 On Monday night, farmers in the Netherlands blocked several roads and highways with their tractors and burned hay bales and tires. Raf Casert, Quartz, 6 Feb. 2024 With thick smoke from burning bales of hay hanging over parts of Belgian capital, security forces used water cannons to douse fires and keep a farmer from felling a tree on the steps of the European Parliament. Raf Casert, Fortune Europe, 1 Feb. 2024 The farmers also barricaded the gate of the graceful prefecture building with giant tractor tires, wooden pallets and hay bales, and sprayed it liberally with liquid manure. Catherine Porter, New York Times, 29 Jan. 2024
Verb
As a teenager, Don built his strength baling hay on local farms while becoming a dazzling All-State star on the diamond, gridiron and hardwood at McKell High School. Alex Williams, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024 Sherman also sent boys to labor in fields around Southern California, picking citrus fruit, digging ditches, managing livestock and cutting and baling hay. Zach Levitt, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2023 Hay bales can also be another stream of revenue for farmers—one farmer featured in the film, Ron, grows rice and is in the baling world and sends at least 10,000 to 15,000 for building every year. Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 10 Aug. 2023 The idea was to highlight the role of women in agriculture, so each contestant had to have baled hay and done other farm work to qualify. Sam Boyer, cleveland, 14 July 2023 Women of all ages who have a history of baling hay and farming were invited to participate to represent their township (though now some live in villages and cities). Sam Boyer, cleveland, 14 July 2023 On the other side of all this, the Pac-12 likely is pulling together some combination of streaming services during an industry drought with gum and baling twine. Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 June 2023 Brian DeNeve, spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, said the fire started in a paper storage bunker, a holding bin where the sorted grade of material accumulates prior to be baled and shipped out. Drake Bentley, Journal Sentinel, 31 May 2023 Sales Manager Leigh Shaffer said that while the fire totally destroyed the warehouse, the more important sorting and baling equipment was not damaged. Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 13 May 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bale.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English, "evil-doing, threat of evil, harm, destruction of life, torment, grief," going back to Old English bealu (neuter), genitive bealwes "evil-doing, malice, harm, destruction, torment," going back to Germanic *balwa- "evil," in both active and passive aspects (whence also Old Frisian bale- [in balemunda "disloyal guardian"], Old Saxon balu "wickedness," Middle Dutch bal- [in baldadich "wanton"], Old High German balo, palo "evil, disaster, treachery," Old Icelandic bǫl "misfortune," Gothic balwa- [in balwawesei "wickedness"]), noun derivative from neuter of an adjective *balwa- (whence Old English bealu "evil, pernicious"), going back to dialectal Indo-European *bhol-, whence also Old Church Slavic bolĭ "sick person," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian bôl "pain," Russian bol'

Note: The etymon *bhol- is attested with certainty only in Germanic and Slavic, assuming that this comparison itself is correct. Proposed links with other Indo-European branches, as Celtic, are less convincing.

Noun (2)

Middle English, from Middle French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German balla ball

Verb

derivative of bale entry 2

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1762, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bale was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near bale

Cite this Entry

“Bale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bale. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

bale

1 of 2 noun
: a large bundle of goods tightly tied for storing or shipping
a bale of cotton

bale

2 of 2 verb
baled; baling
: to make up into a bale
baler noun

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