bald

[bawld] /bɔld/

adjective

having little or no hair on the scalp:

a bald head; a bald person.

destitute of some natural growth or covering:

a bald mountain.

lacking detail; bare; plain; unadorned:

a bald prose style.

open; undisguised:

a bald lie.

Zoology. having white on the head:

the bald eagle.

Automotive. (of a tire) having the tread completely worn away.

verb (used without object)

to become bald.

noun

(often initial capital letter) Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a treeless mountaintop or area near the top: often used as part of a proper name.

Origin

1250-1300; Middle English ball(e)d, equivalent to ball white spot (compare Welsh bal, Greek phaliós having a white spot) + -ed -ed³

Related forms

baldish, adjective

baldly, adverb

baldness, noun

half-bald, adjective

semibald, adjective

semibaldly, adverb

semibaldness, noun

Can be confused

bald, balled, bawled.

Synonyms

4. bare, barefaced, flagrant, patent, utter, out-and-out, downright, flat-out.

Examples from the web for bald

And she hadn't told her husband that her head would be bald on his return.
We all age, many of us go bald, there is nothing ugly and unbecoming about being bald.
He was totally bald, although he had buzzed his hair off himself, since he was going to go bald anyway.
Though brightly colored, the vulture's head and neck are bald.
bald eagles, which feed on fish, altered their food habits.
The birds had long been kept away by bald eagles, which are highly territorial.
Scientists have found a way to grow new hair follicles on your bald bodies using stem cells.
The sun was not up yet, and he was ready to raid the state's only known active bald eagle nest.
Gilman says he is happy to be a fat, bald professor, but he understands that not everyone is so easily satisfied.
They need, it increasingly seems, to conform to certain minimum physical standards: bald pates and paunches are out.

British Dictionary definitions for bald

bald

/bɔːld/

adjective

having no hair or fur, esp (of a man) having no hair on all or most of the scalp

lacking natural growth or covering

plain or blunt: a bald statement

bare or simple; unadorned

Also baldfaced. (of certain birds and other animals) having white markings on the head and face

(of a tyre) having a worn tread

Derived Forms

baldish, adjective
baldly, adverb
baldness, noun

Word Origin

C14 ballede (literally: having a white spot); related to Danish bǣldet, Greek phalaros having a white spot

Word Origin and History for bald

adj.

c.1300, ballede, probably, with Middle English -ede adjectival suffix + Celtic bal "white patch, blaze" especially on the head of a horse or other animal (from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, gleam;" see bleach (v.)). Cf., from the same root, Sanskrit bhalam "brightness, forehead," Greek phalos "white," Latin fulcia "coot" (so called for the white patch on its head), Albanian bale "forehead." But connection with ball (n.1), on notion of "smooth, round" also has been suggested. Bald eagle first attested 1680s; so called for its white head.

bald in Medicine

bald (bôld)
adj. bald·er, bald·est
Lacking hair on the head.