Forms: 3–6 baile, 4 baille, 4–6 bail, bayle, 6 bayl, bayll, 9 bayle (sense 2), bail, bale (sense 4). [ME., a. OF. bail and baile, baille in same sense, of doubtful origin; perh. verbal sbs. f. baillier to enclose, shut (1321 in Godef.), unless indeed they are the source of that word: see BAIL v.3 Cf. also next, and BAILEY.
It is phonetically possible that bail, baille, represent L. baculum, pl. bacula, sticks, in the sense of ‘stakes, palisade,’ but historical evidence of such a development of sense is wanting.]
1. pl. Outer line of fortification, formed of stakes; palisades, barriers.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxxviii. 52. The heynows conquered by force the baylles. Ibid., xlvii. 66. A lytell skirmyssh before the bayles. Ibid., 67. They rode in good order, and came to the bayls.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, VIII. 156. O’er the bayle, The bayle now levell’d by victorious France, The assailants pass’d.
2. The wall of the outer court of a feudal castle; extended to each of the successive walls which separate the courts. Hence, sometimes used for the courts themselves. See BAILEY.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10023. Þe baile midelmast o thre, Bitakens wel hir chastite … Nam o bail it hat for-þi For it hir heild als in baili.
c. 1320. Cast. Loue, 687. Seþþe beoþ þre Bayles wiþ-alle So feir i-diht wt strong walle.
c. 1450. Merlin, vii. 113. That thei wolde ley siege environ the baile.
1570–87. Holinshed, Scot. Chron. (1806), II. 368. The lord Fleming … fled out by the postern gate, at the neither baile.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 253. Both bayle and keep rang with the din.
† 3. pl. The bulwarks of a boat. Obs.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 921/2. His barge … with yeomen standing vpon the bails.
1558–1603. Nichols, Progr. Q. Eliz., II. 285. One of the watermen … being the second man next unto the bales of the said barge.
4. A bar or pole to separate horses standing in an open stable; a swinging bail is hung at one end from the manger, and at the other from the ceiling.
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 351. When the horse is deposited in the hold … it is the duty of the ship’s carpenter to fix the bails which are to secure him.
1851. Ord. & Regul. R. Engineers, xix. 96. Battery Stables … 70 Bail Stalls … 9 ft. by 51/2 ft.
1859. ‘Stonehenge,’ Rural Sports, 583. With bales horses can be stowed much more thickly than with travises. Ibid. (1877), Horse, xiii. 205. A Gangway-Bail is … a strong piece of oak which is dropped into a mortice in the stall-post at one end, and into another made in the wall opposite.
5. (In Australia): A framework for securing the head of a cow while she is milked.
1885. E. A. Petherick in letter: The cows are taken to the bails, which may be in the open air, in a shed, or in stalls as in a stable.
