Forms: 5–7 bayl(e, 6 bale, baal, 6–7 baile, 6– bail. [a. OF. baillier, bailier, bailler (= Pr. bailar):—L. bājulāre ‘to bear a burden, to carry,’ afterwards ‘to carry on, manage, rule,’ and ‘to be guardian or tutor,’ whence baillier ranged in OF. from ‘bear, carry, handle, treat, manage, conduct, govern, control, rule, take charge of, guard,’ to ‘take hold of, receive, take, take away,’ and ‘hand over, deliver, give.’ From the last of these arose the Anglo-French legal sense of ‘deliver,’ narrowed down in use to ‘deliver on trust on certain conditions.’ Sense 2 is probably immediately from BAIL sb.1 3, 4, as if short for ‘let to bail, admit to bail,’ but clearly influenced by AF. bailler in sense 1, so as to make ‘deliver’ or ‘liberate’ at length the leading idea. Hence extended from the act of the magistrate to that of the surety, and used in various transferred senses.]
I. Immediately from F. baillier.
1. ‘To deliver (goods) in trust, upon a contract expressed or implied that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee.’ Blackstone. [See BAILMENT, BAILOR, BAILEE.]
[c. 1320. Year-bk. Edw. II., 270. A tort luy detient viij escritz, les queux il luy bailla a rebailler a sa volounte.]
1768. Blackstone, Comm., II. 452. If cloth be delivered, or (in our legal dialect) bailed, to a taylor to make a suit of cloaths.
II. Immediately from BAIL sb.1
2. To admit to bail, to liberate on bail; to release (a person) from immediate arrest or imprisonment, on security being given by one or more sureties that the person so released shall be duly presented for trial. Said of the magistrate. arch.
1548. Hall, Chron. Hen. VIII., an. 14 (R.). Al the other, if they would be bayled, to fynde sureties for their trueth and allegeaunce.
1555. Act 2–3 Mary, x. § 1 (1632). Such Justices … as haue authority to baile any prisoner brought before them.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 35 b. Upon the Bonds of these Sureties … he is bailed, that is to say, set at liberty, untill the day appointed for his appearance.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, III. (R.). Jeffries was bolder, so he bailed him.
1771. Junius Lett., lxv. 328. You have bailed a man … whom the lord mayor of London had refused to bail.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), II. viii. 3. Charles … told them he was content the prisoners should be bailed.
† b. fig. and gen. To liberate from imprisonment.
1581. Studley, Seneca’s Hercules Œtæus, 216 b. Hath hell no power to hold thy sprite … Or else hath Pluto baalde thee out?
1592. Greene, Conny Catch., II. 31. Sirra see if your picklocks will serue the turne to bale you hence.
1600. S. Nicholson, Acolastus (1876), 27. It’s hard to bayle imprisoned thoughts againe.
3. To procure the liberation of (any one) from prison or arrest, by becoming bail or security for him. (To bail out implies that he is already in prison.) Also fig.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 353/1. A woman … whome the same Bruistar had bailed out of Bridewell.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 299. Thou shalt not baile them, see thou follow me.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., I. iv. 11. The dearest Husband cannot bail his wife when death awaits her.
1791. Boswell, Johnson (1831), I. 233. I shall have my old friend to bail out of the round-house.
a. 1832. Mackintosh, Revol. of 1688, Wks. 1846, II. 281. Twenty-eight peers were prepared to bail them, if bail should be required.
1859. Mrs. Gaskell, Round the Sofa, I. 58. I offer to bail the fellow out, and to be responsible for his appearance at the sessions.
4. fig. To be security or pledge for; to secure, guarantee, protect.
1587. Myrr. Mag., Madan, xii. 4. Grace and prudence bayles our carefull bandes.
1620. Sanderson, Serm., I. 166. This stranger, this Lot … hath bayled you hitherto, and given you protection.
a. 1659. Osborn, Q. Eliz. (1673), 464. Let the Proverb As sure as Check bayl me from the least suspicion of hyperboly.
