Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

bail3

Syllabification: (bail)
Pronunciation: /bāl/

Translate bail | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of bail

verb

  • 1 [with object] scoop water out of (a ship or boat):the first priority is to bail out the boat with buckets
  • scoop (water) out of a ship or boat:I started to use my hands to bail out the water
  • 2 [no object] abandon a commitment, obligation, or responsibility:after 12 years of this, including Sunday Mass with the family, I bailed
  • (bail on) let (someone) down by failing to fulfill a commitment, obligation, or responsibility:he looks a little like the guy who bailed on me

Phrasal Verbs

bail out

(of a member of an aircrew) make an emergency parachute descent from an aircraft; eject.
become free of an obligation or commitment; discontinue an activity:she felt ready to bail out of the corporate rat race

bail someone/something out

release someone or something from a difficulty; rescue:the state will not bail out loss-making enterprises

Derivatives

bailer

noun

Origin:

early 17th century: from obsolete bail 'bucket', from French baille, based on Latin bajulus 'carrier'

bail in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of bail in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

synodic

/ səˈnädik /
adjective
relating to or involving the conjunction of celestial objects …