Forms: 3–5 ballede, 4–5 balled, -yd, -id, -it, 5 belde, bellyde, 5–7 balde, 6 baulde, 7 bal’d, ball’d, 8–9 Sc. beld, 6– bald. [ME. balled, of uncertain origin; in sense 1, apparently a ppl. form from BALL v. or sb., with the sense of ‘protuberant or rounded like a ball,’ whence possibly ‘smooth,’ and, as applied to the head, ‘hairless.’ But the analogy of many words for ‘bald’ in various langs., in which the sense arises out of that of ‘shining, white,’ or esp. that of ‘having a white patch on the forehead,’ as in ‘bald-faced stag,’ ‘bald-coot,’ with the actual appearance of this sense in BALL sb.2, strongly favors the idea that ME. ball-ed was a derivative of the latter (cf. also BALLARD), which is with evident propriety referred to Welsh bàl, as explained under sense 5. The chief difficulty is the rarity of the simple ball, and lack of early instances to prove its Eng. use before the appearance of ball-ed. For the termination, Sievers compares OE. -ede (OS. -odi) used esp. of bodily defects, as in heal-ede ruptured, hofer-ede hunchbacked, etc.
Cf. the analogy of MDu. blaer ‘bald’ and blare, Du. blaar ‘white patch on the forehead’ of a horse, etc.; also of MHG. blas ‘bald,’ earlier ‘shining,’ and blasse ‘white patch on the forehead’; also of Du. bles ‘bald’ and blesse; and see blas in Grimm; also Wedgwood and Skeat. Cf. also Gr. φαλακρός ‘bald,’ lit. ‘white- or shining-pated.’ There seems little ground for the suggestion of Kluge that balled represents a lost OE. *bællod = *bærlod, Goth. *bazloþs, from OTeut. baz-oz BARE.]
I. Literal senses.
† 1. ? Rotund, of full habit, corpulent. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc., 377. Suyþe þycke man he was … Gret womede & ballede. Ibid., 429. Ballede he was, & þycke of breste, of body vat also. [Cf. also BOLLED.]
2. Having no hair on some part of the head where it would naturally grow; hairless.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 198. His heed was ballid, and schon as eny glas.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. III. 285. A balled fortop [recalva fronte]. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., V. iv. (1495), 108. The formeste partye of the heede wexyth soone balde.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 55. Julius Cesar was ballyd wherof he had displaisir.
1483. Cath. Angl., 27. To make belde (v.r. bellyde), decaluere.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., II. ii. 70. The plaine bald pate of Father time himselfe.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2724/4. Wears his own Hair but ball’d on the fore part of his Head.
1794. Burns, J. Anderson. But now your brow is beld, John.
1870. Geo. Eliot, Middlem., I. v. Dreadful to see the skin of his bald head moving about.
b. fig. esp. in reference to the necessity of ‘seizing time by the forelock.’
c. 1590. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, V. ii. Begin betimes; Occasion’s bald behind; Slip not thine opportunity.
1606. Dekker, Sev. Sins, VI. (Arb.), 40. Thy Inhabitants Shaue their Consciences so close, that in the ende they growe balde, and bring foorth no goodnesse.
1663. Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., 259. They let those opportunities grow old … and suffer them to be bald before they mind to apprehend them.
3. Without hair (feathers, etc.) on other parts of the body than the head.
c. 1340. Cursor M. (Fairf.), 3490. Þe first was borne [Esau] was rughe of hare Þe toþer childe was ballede [Cott. smeth, Gött. sleyht, Trin. sleiȝte] and bare.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 407. Beavers … have been found bald on the back.
1640. W. Hodgson, Div. Cosmogr., 97. Eagles moult off their feathers, and so become bald.
1771. Barrington, in Phil. Trans., LXII. 6. I … do not find that their [Rabbits’] ears are balder than those of a Hare.
4. transf. Without the usual or natural covering (in various senses): a. Of trees, mountains, etc.: Leafless, treeless, barren, bare. b. Of cloth: Napless. c. Of wheat, grain, etc.: Awnless, beardless. † d. Of persons: Bare-headed. e. Of eyes: Lidless, staring.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. iii. 106. An old Oake, whose bows were moss’d with age, And high top bald with drie antiquitie. Ibid. (1607), Cor., IV. v. 206. The Senators … stand bald before him. Ibid. (1610), Temp., IV. 238. Now Ierkin you are like to lose your haire, & proue a bald Ierkin.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. vii. 166. Where a place is bald of wood.
c. 1800. Coleridge, Chamouni. Thy bald, awful head, O sovran Blanc!
1809. J. Barlow, Columb., III. 414. The bald eyes [of a dead tiger] glare, the paws depend below.
1878. Tennyson, Q. Mary, I. i. 7. Fray’d i’ the knees, and out at elbow, and bald o’ the back.
5. Streaked or marked with white. [Cf. Welsh ceffyl bàl a horse with a white streak or mark on the face (F. cheval belle-face), where bål may be an adj., or a sb. construed as a genitive.]
[1594. Barnfield, Aff. Sheph., I. xxviii. I haue a pie-bald Curre to hunt the Hare.]
1690. Lond. Gaz., No. 2575/4. A black Mare with 3 white Feet, and a bald Face. Ibid. (1711), No. 4848/4. Strayed … a black bald Gelding.
II. Figurative. (Cf. SLIGHT a. and G. blasz.)
6. Bare or destitute of meaning or force; lacking in pregnant import or vividness of description; meager, trivial, paltry.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. XI. 41. And Bringeþ forþ Ballede Resouns.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 428 b. What a bald devise is this of the man?
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 63 b. Had rather heare a iarring black-sant, then one of theyr balde sermons.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, 8 April, 1775. Tom Davies repeated, in a very bald manner, the story of Dr. Johnson’s first repartee to me.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., 224. The meaning dwindles into some bald truism.
7. Bare or destitute of ornament and grace; unadorned, meagerly simple: a. of literary style.
1589. Nashe, Anat. Absurd., 22. Bald affected eloquence.
1693. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 1365. Translated word for word … into bald Latine.
1851. Brimley, Ess., 123. To translate into bald prose those high-coloured and nobly musical passages of the Prelude.
b. of works of art, buildings, etc.
1825. Ld. Cockburn, Mem., 286. In towns the great modern object has … been … to reduce everthing to the dullest and baldest uniformity.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., vii. Thro’ the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day.
8. Undisguised, palpable, evident.
1854. G. Abbott, Napoleon, II. xviii. 343. Admitted, in all its bald baseness.
1870. Lowell, Among My Books, Ser. II. (1873), 314. A bald egotism which is quite above and beyond selfishness.
III. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic deriv., as bald-crowned (sense 2), bald-faced, -nosed (sense 5). See also BALD-COOT, -HEAD, -PATE, -RIB, and bald BUZZARD, EAGLE, KITE, LOCUST, etc.
1677. Lond. Gaz., No. 1237/4. A sorrel Mare … bald-faced, and but one eye. Ibid. (1689), 2503/4. A brown Gelding … bald Nosed. Ibid. (1716), 5494/4. A … well-set Man, bald-crowned.
