Bold

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /bəʊld/, /bɔʊld/
• US IPA: /boÊŠld/
• also IPA: /blÌ©d/
• Homophones: bulled
• also, some dialects
• Homophones: bald, balled, bawled
• Rhymes: -əʊld
• Homophones: bowled

From Middle English bold, from Old English bold, blod, bolt, botl ("house, dwelling-place, mansion, hall, castle, temple"), from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą ("house, dwelling"), from Proto-Indo-European *bheu-, *bhū- ("to grow, wax, swell, live, dwell"). Cognate with Old Frisian bold ("house") (whence North Frisian bol, boel, bøl ("house")), North Frisian bodel, budel ("property, inheritance"), Middle Low German būdel ("property, real estate"). Related to build.

Alternative forms

• bolde, boolde

Full definition of bold

Noun

1. (obsolete) A dwelling; habitation; building.

Related terms

• bottle
• build

From Middle English bold, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald ("bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent"), from Proto-Germanic *balþaz ("strong, bold"), from Proto-Indo-European *bhel-, *bhlē- ("to bloat, swell, bubble"). Cognate with Dutch boud ("bold, courageous, fearless"), Middle High German balt ("bold") (whence German bald ("soon")), Swedish båld ("bold, dauntless"). Perhaps related to Albanian ballë ("forehead") and Old Prussian balo ("forehead"). For semantic development compare Italian affrontare ("to face, to deal with"), sfrontato ("bold,daring"), both from Latin frons ("forehead").

Adjective

1. Courageous, daring.
   Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 22, Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.
• 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. Stephanus pagination.It would be extraordinarily bold of me to give it a try after seeing what has happened to you.
2. (of a font) Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
   The last word of this sentence is bold.
3. Presumptuous.
• 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 9.even the boldest and most affirmative philosophy, that has ever attempted to impose its crude dictates and principles on mankind.

Synonyms

• (courageous) audacious, brave, courageous, daring, forward

Related terms

• embolden

Verb

1. (transitive) To make (a font or some text) bold.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To make bold or daring.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To become bold.