Bald


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.
to become bald.
(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.
Contemporary Examples

A pudgy, bald man in a suit and sweater ensemble stands in an opening between two of the newly erected walls.
This Cairo College Campus Is Now a ‘Warzone’ Jonathan Krohn February 17, 2014

He had a round, very wide face, light eyes full of pride, a dimpled chin, a bald pate with a gray fringe.
Julian Tepper: Leave Philip Roth Alone! Julian Tepper February 5, 2013

When people see you bald for the first time, they are a little taken aback, so earrings give them something to focus on.
A Breast Cancer Alphabet: F Is For Fashion Accessories Madhulika Sikka February 22, 2014

He was a bald islander who wore a hat and lots of gold jewelry.
Uh, Mom, About That Prostitute… Quinn Bradlee March 30, 2009

And we both turned on Ed Norton and said, ‘What did you think, a bald head and a few tattoos were going to get you one?’
Nick Nolte on ‘Warrior,’ Going Indie, and His Oscar Prospects Richard Rushfield November 20, 2011

Historical Examples

Now and then raising his arm by a slow, as if cautious movement, he scratched lightly the top of his bald head.
Tales Of Hearsay Joseph Conrad

The offspring of a liaison between a bald head and a bank account.
The Devil’s Dictionary Ambrose Bierce

The bald patch was out of sight, and the smile would have softened the heart of an income-tax assessor.
Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 146., January 21, 1914 Various

There was the bald’in, stand-by old and good as bread; and there were all the rest.
Meadow Grass Alice Brown

Now, every evening before leaving, he would look at his white mustache and bald head in the same mirror.
Original Short Stories, Volume 6 (of 13) Guy de Maupassant

adjective
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
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.

bald (bôld)
adj. bald·er, bald·est
Lacking hair on the head.

Read Also:

  • Bald cypress

    a tree, Taxodium distichum, of swampy areas of the southern U.S., having featherlike needles and cone-shaped projections growing up from the roots, yielding a hardwood used in construction, shipbuilding, etc. Historical Examples In this respect the tree is like the larch and the bald cypress. Studies of Trees Jacob Joshua Levison There are nine recognized […]

  • Bald eagle

    a large, fish-eating eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, of the U.S. and Canada, having dark golden-brown back and wings, and white plumage on the head and tail in the adult: some recently endangered populations are now recovering. Contemporary Examples Besides the bald eagle on the Presidential Seal, who holds 13 arrows in one claw and an olive […]

  • Bald-faced

    barefaced (def 2). Contemporary Examples Its nuclear program is a bald-faced attempt at regional hegemony, one that comes closer to fruition with each passing day. James Kirchick on How Biden Gets it Wrong (Again) in Newsweek James Kirchick December 20, 2011 The astonishing thing about such opportunism is that it is so bald-faced. Our Gutless […]

  • Bald-faced hornet

    See under hornet. any large, stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro (giant hornet) introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata (bald-faced hornet or white-faced hornet) of North America. Historical Examples There is no wild creature in the northern United States that a man will run away from so fast […]

  • Baldhead

    a person who is bald. one of a breed of domestic pigeons. Historical Examples We must be careful, though, and not let old baldhead and the others know anything about it. The Hero of Garside School J. Harwood Panting A baldhead whose dome glinted bright gold in the dusk knotted his hands together in an […]


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