BALE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Bale mean? 

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

1. a large bundle bound for storage or transport

2. a city in northwestern Switzerland

  Familiarity information: BALE used as a noun is rare.

• BALE (verb)
  The verb BALE has 1 sense:

1. make into a bale

  Familiarity information: BALE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BALE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large bundle bound for storage or transport

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

bundle; sheaf (a package of several things tied together for carrying or storing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bale"):

hay bale (a bale of hay)

Derivation:

bale (make into a bale)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A city in northwestern Switzerland

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Bale; Basel; Basle

Instance hypernyms:

city; metropolis; urban center (a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts)

Holonyms ("Bale" is a part of...):

Schweiz; Suisse; Svizzera; Swiss Confederation; Switzerland (a landlocked federal republic in central Europe)

• BALE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bale    ... he / she / it bales   
Past simple: baled   
Past participle: baled   
-ing form: baling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make into a bale

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

bale hay

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

accumulate; amass; collect; compile; hoard; pile up; roll up (get or gather together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bale (a large bundle bound for storage or transport)

 Context examples 

Let them be, and they will think that we are a wine-ship for Gascony, or that we bear the wool-bales of some mercer of the Staple.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The half-breeds had ascended also, and under Lord John's orders they had carried up a bale of provisions in case our first exploration should be a long one.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not one of them but bore its two ankers of the right French cognac, or its bale of silk of Lyons and lace of Valenciennes.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When the huntsman saw that, he went back and fetched three men to come with buckets and bale out the water.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He unstrapped the tin bucket and began to bale the pool.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

A whisper of the gold-rush had reached his ears, and he had come with several bales of furs, and another of gut-sewn mittens and moccasins.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

First, moving with all care, I gradually baled out the coracle with my sea-cap; then, getting my eye once more above the gunwale, I set myself to study how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The dry-goods stores were not down among the counting-houses, banks, and wholesale warerooms, where gentlemen most do congregate, but Jo found herself in that part of the city before she did a single errand, loitering along as if waiting for someone, examining engineering instruments in one window and samples of wool in another, with most unfeminine interest, tumbling over barrels, being half-smothered by descending bales, and hustled unceremoniously by busy men who looked as if they wondered 'how the deuce she got there'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Yet when we bale our bowline and veer the sheet our lives will hang upon the breach remaining blocked.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He baled wildly at first, splashing himself and flinging the water so short a distance that it ran back into the pool.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)