bale
noun
a large bundle or package prepared for shipping, storage, or sale, especially one tightly compressed and secured by wires, hoops, cords, or the like, and sometimes having a wrapping or covering.
bale
1 American
[beyl]
/ beɪl /
noun
-
a large bundle or package prepared for shipping, storage, or sale, especially one tightly compressed and secured by wires, hoops, cords, or the like, and sometimes having a wrapping or covering.
a bale of cotton; a bale of hay.
-
a group of turtles.
verb (used with object)
baled,
baling
bale
2
American
[beyl]
/ beɪl /
noun
Archaic.
-
evil; harm; misfortune.
-
woe; misery; sorrow.
bale
3
American
[beyl]
/ beɪl /
noun
bale
4
American
[beyl]
/ beɪl /
verb (used with or without object)
baled,
baling
Bâle
5
American
[bahl]
/ bɑl /
noun
bale
1
British
/ beɪl /
noun
-
a large bundle, esp of a raw or partially processed material, bound by ropes, wires, etc, for storage or transportation
bale of hay
-
a large package or carton of goods
-
500 pounds of cotton
-
a group of turtles
-
See wool bale
verb
-
to make (hay, etc) into a bale or bales
-
to put (goods) into packages or cartons
-
to pack and compress (wool) into wool bales
bale
2
British
/ beɪl /
noun
-
evil; injury
-
woe; suffering; pain
Bâle
3
British
/ bɑl /
noun
bale
4
British
/ beɪl /
verb
bale
5
British
/ beɪl /
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bale1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-Latin bala, Anglo-French bale “pack, bale,” from unattested Frankish balla; compare Old High German balo, akin to balla; see ball 1
Origin of bale2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English bealu, balu; cognate with Old Norse bǫl, Old Saxon balu, Old High German balo, Gothic balw-; akin to Russian bolʾ “pain”
Explanation
A bale is a bound-up bundle, usually made of hay. When you drive past a farm in the fall, you'll often see bales of hay scattered across the fields. A bale is a compact, easy-to-move bundle of a crop like hay or cotton. Bales are formed in various shapes by a machine called a baler, and wrapped in twine or wire so they can be efficiently transported or stored. The word bale is Old French for "rolled-up bundle," from the same Germanic root as ball.
Vocabulary lists containing bale
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It is now able to bale its own aluminum, cardboard, and other materials used and discarded at the arena from event days and gets a rebate from Waste Management for taking it off their hands.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
Tracye also has a vivid memory of sitting on a bale of hay to watch her mother belly dance at Pleasure Faire.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
To visualize microscopic asbestos fibers in talcum powder, he brought a bale of hay into a courtroom and dropped a needle into the blades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
Many UK businesses will bale tyres and send them to India because it is more profitable and investing in shredding machinery is expensive, according to Mr Mason.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025
Trying to appear unhurried, he went back to the floor by way of the straw bale and crossed over the door.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Otherwise a hotel at Cologne or Heidelberg has little to distinguish it from a hotel at Brussels or Bâle.
From Home Life in Germany by Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick
How tedious the days before the one memorable day which should see us off to Bâle, and how alarming a cold in the head, caught by one of us two days before the date!
From The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII. No. 358, November 6, 1886. by Charles Peters
The young chevalier found himself on the bridge at Bâle at high noon.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 by Various
Thomas Lovell Beddoes was born in Clifton in 1803, and died at Bâle in Switzerland in 1849.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 by Various
From Bâle we take the railway southward to Lausanne, situated on the borders of Lake Geneva, where we find a population numbering some thirty-three thousand.
From Foot-prints of Travel or, Journeyings in Many Lands by Maturin Murray Ballou
In 2021, Australia banned exports of baled tyres after auditors checked to see where they were really ending up.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025
He baled hay, trimmed Christmas trees and otherwise worked on his family’s farm.
From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
If your balcony is on the breezy side, you can protect your plants by putting them behind tightly baled straw, or you can create a windbreak by securing burlap to the railing.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 30, 2021
His fields produce cotton that is exported, alfalfa that is trucked to dairies in California, Bermuda grass that is baled to feed horses, and honeydews and other melons that are sold in supermarkets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2021
After Palestine, when the cotton was in, baled and spoken for, Joe got married and worked even harder.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Eventually, all these materials wind up at one of four baling machines that compress them into giant blocks, which then get moved around the facility’s storage area by crew-operated forklifts.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
In a noticeable moment from “Cow,” a farmer baling hay strikes his pitchfork against a stone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
S&W Atlas Iron & Metal had processed scrap metal in Watts since 1949, shredding and baling aluminum cans, steel rims and copper wire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025
"We got some really good ones of raking up and baling," Miss Burke said.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025
A man collected this waste paper and took it away for baling.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
