Category:Bald

Bald, a. Etym: [OE. balled, ballid, perh. the p.p. of ball to reduce to the roundness or smoothness of a ball, by removing hair. sq. root85. But cf. W. bali whiteness in a horse's forehead.]

1. Destitute of the natural or common covering on the head or top, as of hair, feathers, foliage, trees, etc.; as, a bald head; a bald oak. On the bald top of an eminence. Wordsworth.

2. Destitute of ornament; unadorned; bare; literal. In the preface to his own bald translation. Dryden.

3. Undisguised. " Bald egotism." Lowell.

4. Destitute of dignity or value; paltry; mean. [Obs.]

5. (Bot.)

Defn: Destitute of a beard or awn; as, bald wheat.

6. (Zoöl.) (a) Destitute of the natural covering. (b) Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced. Bald buzzard (Zoöl.), the fishhawk or osprey.

-- Bald coot (Zoöl.), a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.