BAIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bail mean? 

• BAIL (noun)
  The noun BAIL has 2 senses:

1. (criminal law) money that must be forfeited by the bondsman if an accused person fails to appear in court for trial

2. the legal system that allows an accused person to be temporarily released from custody (usually on condition that a sum of money guarantees their appearance at trial)

  Familiarity information: BAIL used as a noun is rare.

• BAIL (verb)
  The verb BAIL has 5 senses:

1. release after a security has been paid

2. deliver something in trust to somebody for a special purpose and for a limited period

3. secure the release of (someone) by providing security

4. empty (a vessel) by bailing

5. remove (water) from a vessel with a container

  Familiarity information: BAIL used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BAIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(criminal law) money that must be forfeited by the bondsman if an accused person fails to appear in court for trial

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

bail; bail bond; bond

Context example:

a $10,000 bond was furnished by an alderman

Hypernyms ("bail" is a kind of...):

recognisance; recognizance ((law) a security entered into before a court with a condition to perform some act required by law; on failure to perform that act a sum is forfeited)

Domain category:

criminal law (the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment)

Derivation:

bail (release after a security has been paid)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The legal system that allows an accused person to be temporarily released from custody (usually on condition that a sum of money guarantees their appearance at trial)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

he is out on bail

Hypernyms ("bail" is a kind of...):

legal system (a system for interpreting and enforcing the laws)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

bail (secure the release of (someone) by providing security)

bail (release after a security has been paid)

• BAIL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bail    ... he / she / it bails   
Past simple: bailed   
Past participle: bailed   
-ing form: bailing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Release after a security has been paid

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "bail" is one way to...):

free; liberate; loose; release; unloose; unloosen (grant freedom to; free from confinement)

Verb group:

bail (secure the release of (someone) by providing security)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bail (the legal system that allows an accused person to be temporarily released from custody (usually on condition that a sum of money guarantees their appearance at trial))

bail ((criminal law) money that must be forfeited by the bondsman if an accused person fails to appear in court for trial)

bailable (admitting of bail)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deliver something in trust to somebody for a special purpose and for a limited period

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "bail" is one way to...):

deliver; fork out; fork over; fork up; hand over; render; turn in (to surrender someone or something to another)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bailee (the agent to whom property involved in a bailment is delivered)

bailment (the delivery of personal property in trust by the bailor to the bailee)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Secure the release of (someone) by providing security

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "bail" is one way to...):

guarantee; vouch (give surety or assume responsibility)

Verb group:

bail (release after a security has been paid)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bail (the legal system that allows an accused person to be temporarily released from custody (usually on condition that a sum of money guarantees their appearance at trial))

bailable (admitting of bail)

bailor (the person who delivers personal property (goods or money) in trust to the bailee in a bailment)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Empty (a vessel) by bailing

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bail" is one way to...):

empty (make void or empty of contents)

Verb group:

bail (remove (water) from a vessel with a container)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Remove (water) from a vessel with a container

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bail" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Verb group:

bail (empty (a vessel) by bailing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

I'll go bail for it that nothing has ever been written upon this paper.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In that case money is found for his bail or his defence.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Trelawney,” said the doctor, “I'll go with you; and I'll go bail for it, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. There's only one man I'm afraid of.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

As it was, spray and spume came aboard in such quantities that I bailed without cessation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

My papa lived to bail Mr. Micawber several times, and then expired, regretted by a numerous circle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The boat’s bow plunged under a crest, and we came through quarter-full of water. I bailed like a madman.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Once I shipped a sea so heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering like a bird, but gradually I got into the way of the thing and guided my coracle among the waves, with only now and then a blow upon her bows and a dash of foam in my face.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The three men were bailing.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the time the two men had come back out of breath and confessed that they had lost the track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would have gone bail for the innocence of Long John Silver.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Johnson was steering, Leach bailing.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)