Other forms: bales
A bale is a tight bundle of hay or straw tied for storage. Stack the bales, a round bale, lift the bale.
The big round ones weigh several hundred kilos and roll unpredictably, which is why they kill people on farms every year. Baling compresses the crop so it keeps and travels. Note bail, a different word, meaning to scoop water or to release from custody.
1nounbaleA tight bundle of hay or straw tied for storage.
“The farmer stacked the bales of straw in the barn.”
bale is a bundle.
Probably from Old French bale, a bundle, from a Germanic root meaning a ball or package.
Proto-Germanic
*balwą
Proto-West Germanic
*balu
Old English
bealu
Middle English
bale — evil
English, today
bale
From Middle English bale (“evil”), from Old English bealu, from Proto-West Germanic balu, from Proto-Germanic balwą. Cognate with Low German bal- (“bad, ill”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (“torture”), Old High German balo (“destruction”), Old Norse bǫl (“disaster”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA