I know handsome men who are bald, and there are not a few, but many, who derive distinction from this baldness.
On the whole I think we must leave the announcement as it stands in all its baldness.
Synesius pleaded in behalf of baldness; and Lucian defended a sipping fly.
Did you ever notice, gentlemen, how lying and baldness go together?
For some reason it seems impossible to address a stranger at a table d'hôte, before the soup takes the baldness off the situation.
Neeld was surprised at the baldness of the question, but Harry took it as natural.
"No," he stated, and there was something lugubrious in the baldness of the statement.
She added nothing to the question, but asked it in all its baldness.
baldness and the loss of teeth were supposed to be the punishment inflicted by the household god for a breach of the rule.
The wind had disarranged his sleek hair, revealing his baldness.
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.
baldness bald·ness (bôld'nĭs)
n.
The lack of all or a significant part of the hair on the head and sometimes on other parts of the body.
bald (bôld)
adj. bald·er, bald·est
Lacking hair on the head.
from natural causes was uncommon (2 Kings 2:23; Isa. 3:24). It was included apparently under "scab" and "scurf," which disqualified for the priesthood (Lev. 21:20). The Egyptians were rarely subject to it. This probably arose from their custom of constantly shaving the head, only allowing the hair to grow as a sign of mourning. With the Jews artificial baldness was a sign of mourning (Isa. 22:12; Jer. 7:29; 16:6); it also marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow (Acts 18:18; 21:24; Num. 6:9). It is often alluded to (Micah 1:16; Amos 8:10; Jer. 47:5). The Jews were forbidden to follow the customs of surrounding nations in making themselves bald (Deut. 14:1).
