Synonyms Examples Word Origin
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. Show More
verb (used without object) to become bald. Show More
(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. Show More
Origin of bald 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 bald·ish , adjective bald·ly , adverb bald·ness , noun half-bald , adjective sem·i·bald , adjective sem·i·bald·ly , adverb sem·i·bald·ness , noun Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for baldly Contemporary Examples of baldly They did not baldly call for a coup, but they did exhort soldiers to “take a stand.”
So baldly clear is this realization that I might as well be acknowledging that I will never have eight legs and spin a web.
Chavez could be declared "temporarily absent," a narrowly legal if baldly political maneuver to forestall succession.
Brzezinski drafted a letter for Carter to send to the shah that baldly enjoined him to use force against the demonstrators.
In 2002, Americans rejected this baldly isolationist statement by well over two to one.
Historical Examples of baldly "We mustn't put it too baldly ," observed Southend, dangling his eyeglass.
It looked to them as if Patsy were down and out, to state it baldly .
Such, crudely and baldly , is the famous nebular hypothesis of Laplace.
It is not necessary to resort to the measure so baldly suggested.
She had not meant to say that so baldly , and she was sorry for the slip as soon as the words were out.
British Dictionary definitions for baldly 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 Show More
Derived Forms baldish , adjective baldly , adverb baldness , noun Word Origin for bald C14 ballede (literally: having a white spot); related to Danish bǣldet , Greek phalaros having a white spot
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for baldly 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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Lacking hair on the head. Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
