Obs. Forms: see BOLD a. [OE. bealdian, = OHG. baldên, f. bald adj.: see prec.]
1. intr. To be, or show oneself, bold; to become bold, grow strong or big.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 4360. Swa bealdode beorn Ecgþeowes.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7539. To gar þam wit hope to bald.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., XII. 223. And ther is warme eke hugely thai [plum-trees] bold.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 640. The wenche bygane to bolde.
1534. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), K k vij. Oure hardines soo boldeth.
1706. De Foe, Jure Div., IX. 201. No tame Subjection did their Kingdoms yield, But bolding courted Freedom in the Field.
2. trans. To make bold, embolden, encourage.
c. 1205. Lay., 4385. To balden þine leoden [c. 1275 to boldi].
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10425. Men suld bald þam to be blith.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 2468. His Gregeys ful faire he boldith.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. III. 198. I batered hem on þe bakke and bolded here hertis.
1535. Coverdale, Deut. iii. 28. Geue Iosua his charge, and corage him and Bolde him.
c. 1540. Lady Brian, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. II. 79. Now et boldethe me to shew yow my powr mynd.
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. i. 26. It toucheth us, as France invades our land, Not bolds the king.
b. To make (a fire) strong or fierce. north. dial.
a. 1400. Sir Perc., 792. He tase the knyghte bi the swire, Keste hym reghte in the fyre The brandes to balde.
Mod. Sc. ‘To bauld the glead,’ to kindle the glowing coal, i.e., to make the fire bold, to blow it up. Roxb. (Jamieson).
