bail

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
2. n. Release from imprisonment provided by the payment of such money.
3. n. A person who provides this security.
4. v. To secure the release of by providing security.
5. v. To release (a person) for whom security has been paid.
6. v. Informal To extricate from a difficult situation: always bailing you out of trouble.
7. v. To transfer (property) to another for a special purpose but without permanent transference of ownership.
8. idiom. jump To fail to appear in court and so forfeit one's bail.
9. v. To remove (water) from a boat by repeatedly filling a container and emptying it over the side.
10. v. To empty (a boat) of water by bailing.
11. v. To empty a boat of water by bailing.
12. n. A container used for emptying water from a boat.
13. bail out To parachute from an aircraft; eject.
14. bail out To abandon a project or enterprise.
15. n. The arched hooplike handle of a container, such as a pail.
16. n. An arch or hoop, such as one of those used to support the top of a covered wagon.
17. n. A hinged bar on a typewriter that holds the paper against the platen.
18. n. The pivoting U-shaped part of a fishing reel that guides the line onto the spool during rewinding.
19. n. Chiefly British A pole or bar used to confine or separate animals.
20. n. Sports One of the two crossbars that form the top of a wicket used in the game of cricket.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A hoop or ring; a piece of wood, metal, or other material bent into the form of circle or half-circle, as a hoop for supporting the tilt of a boat, the cover of a wagon or cradle, etc. Specifically The hoop forming the handle of a kettle or bucket.
2. n. One of the iron yokes which serve to suspend a lifecar from the hawser on which it runs.
3. n. A stout iron yoke placed over heavy guns and fitting closely over the ends of the trunnions, to which it is attached by pins in the axis of the trunnions: used to raise the gun by means of the gin.
4. n. An arched support of a millstone.
5. n. A wooden canopy formed of bows.
6. To provide with a bail; hoop.
7. In law: To deliver, as goods, without transference of ownership, on an agreement, expressed or implied, that they shall be returned or accounted for. See bailment.
8. To set free, deliver, or liberate from arrest and imprisonment, upon security given that the person bailed shall appear and answer in court or satisfy the judgment given: applied to the action of the magistrate or the surety. The magistrate is said to bail a person (or to admit him to bail) when he liberates him from arrest or imprisonment, upon bond given with sureties. The surety is also said to bail the person whose release he procures by giving the bond.
9. Figuratively, to release; liberate.
10. To be security for; secure; protect.
11. n. Power; custody; jurisdiction.
12. n. The keeping of a person in nominal custody on security that he shall appear in court at a specified time. The person is said to be admitted to bail, in which phrase, however, bail is now commonly thought of as the security given. See 3.
13. n. Security given to obtain the release of a prisoner from custody, pending final decision in the action against him. In civil cases a person arrested has always the right to give sufficient bail, and thereupon be released from custody. In criminal cases the defendant has also this right, as a rule, when the crime charged is a mere misdemeanor. Whether to bail one charged with treason or felony is usually in the discretion of the judge, and in some states bail is always denied to one held for a crime punishable with death. The security is in the form of a bond executed by responsible sureties, providing that the defendant shall appear at the order of the court under penalty of forfeiture of the sum named in the bond. The person bailed is regarded as but transferred from the custody of the law to that of his sureties, who may therefore seize and surrender him at any time. In civil cases there are several kinds of bail at common law, the chief being common bail and special bail. Common bail, or bail below, which is now disused, was given to the sheriff on a bail-bond entered into by two persons, on condition that the defendant appear at the day and in such place as the arresting process commands. Special bail, bail above, or bail to the action, is given by persons who undertake generally, after appearance of a defendant, that if he be condemned in the action he shall satisfy the debt, costs, and damages, or render himself to the proper person, or that they will do so for him. (Wharton.) In Scotland, bail in civil cases is called caution (which see).
14. n. Figuratively, security; guaranty.
15. n. Liberation on bail: as, to grant bail.
16. n. The person or persons who provide bail, and thus obtain the temporary release of a prisoner. Persons who make a business of furnishing bail on payment of a fee often frequent law-courts. Formerly such persons wore straws in their shoes as a sign of their occupation; hence the term straw bail, used to designate fictitious or irresponsible professional bail.
17. n. [Bail, being an abstract noun applicable to persons only by ellipsis, is not used in the plural.]
18. n. To vouch (for a thing): as, I'll go bail for that.
19. n. A bar; a cross-bar.
20. n. In cricket, one of the two little bars or sticks, about 4 inches long, which are laid on the tops of the stumps, one end resting in the groove of one stump, and the other in that of the next. Since they fall with the lightest blow, they serve to indicate when the stumps have been struck.
21. n. A bar or pole to separate horses in a stable.
22. n. A framework for securing the head of a cow while she is being milked.
23. n. [The earliest use in E.] Milit.: plural The outer wall or line of defenses, originally often made of stakes; barriers; palisades. See palisade. Hence— The space inclosed by the outer wall; the outer court of a castle or a fortified post: in this sense usually called bailey. See bailey.
24. n. A certain limit in a forest.
25. To bar in; confine.
26. To provide with a bail.
27. n. A bucket; a pail; especially, a bucket or other small vessel used to dip water out of a boat.
28. To remove (water), or free (a boat, etc.) from water, with a bail, bucket, basin, or other small vessel: usually with out.
29. To remove water, as from a boat or the like, with a bail or bucket.
30. etc. Obsolete and less proper spelling of bale, etc.
31. n. In Canadian law, a demise of realty.
32. n. In practice, the formal entering of fictitious bail when special bail is not required. It is intended merely to express the appearance of a defendant.
33. To halt or surrender when “bailed up” or “held up” by a highway-man.

Wiktionary

1. v. rare To confine.
2. v. Australia, New Zealand To secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
3. v. Australia, New Zealand To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up. (Usually with up.)
4. v. slang To exit quickly.
5. v. informal To fail to meet a commitment.
6. n. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).
7. n. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).
8. n. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
9. n. A frame to restrain a cow during milking.
10. n. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
11. n. cricket One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.
12. n. furniture Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail, as the wire bail handle shown in the drawing.
13. v. To secure the head of a cow during milking.
14. n. Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
15. n. law, UK Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
16. n. law, UK The person providing such payment.
17. n. A bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.
18. v. To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.
19. v. law To release a person under such guarantee.
20. v. To set free.
21. v. law To hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.
22. v. nautical To remove water from a boat by scooping it out.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A bucket or scoop used in bailing water out of a boat.
2. v. To lade; to dip and throw; -- usually with out.
3. v. To dip or lade water from; -- often with out to express completeness.
4. v. obsolete To deliver; to release.
5. v. To set free, or deliver from arrest, or out of custody, on the undertaking of some other person or persons that he or they will be responsible for the appearance, at a certain day and place, of the person bailed.
6. v. To deliver, as goods in trust, for some special object or purpose, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee, or person intrusted.
7. n. obsolete Custody; keeping.
8. n. The person or persons who procure the release of a prisoner from the custody of the officer, or from imprisonment, by becoming surety for his appearance in court.
9. n. The security given for the appearance of a prisoner in order to obtain his release from custody of the officer.
10. n. The arched handle of a kettle, pail, or similar vessel, usually movable.
11. n. A half hoop for supporting the cover of a carrier's wagon, awning of a boat, etc.
12. n. obsolete A line of palisades serving as an exterior defense.
13. n. The outer wall of a feudal castle. Hence: The space inclosed by it; the outer court.
14. n. engraving A certain limit within a forest.
15. n. A division for the stalls of an open stable.
16. n. (Cricket) The top or cross piece (or either of the two cross pieces) of the wicket.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. remove (water) from a vessel with a container
2. n. the legal system that allows an accused person to be temporarily released from custody (usually on condition that a sum of money guarantees their appearance at trial)
3. v. secure the release of (someone) by providing security
4. v. release after a security has been paid
5. v. deliver something in trust to somebody for a special purpose and for a limited period
6. v. empty (a vessel) by bailing
7. n. (criminal law) money that must be forfeited by the bondsman if an accused person fails to appear in court for trial