bold
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbəʊld/
ipa: [ˈbɒʊ(ɫ)d]
ipa: /boʊld/
ipa: /bold/
ipa: /baʉld/
ipa: [bɒʊ(ɫ)d]
rhymes: -əʊld
homophone: bowled
Forms: form: bolder
form: more bold
form: boldest
form: most bold
Etymology: From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, 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”). Compare typologically Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold, daring, insolent”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).
Senses: examples: text: Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals.
text: 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.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: It would be extraordinarily bold of me to give it a try after seeing what has happened to you.
ref: 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 239c:
antonyms: risk-averse
;
conservative
;
reluctant
glosses: Courageous, daring.
examples: text: the painter's bold use of colour and outline
glosses: Visually striking; conspicuous.
examples: text: Many bold fonts are available on this computer.
text: In HTML, wrapping text in <b> and </b> tags produces bold text.
topics: media
publishing
typography
glosses: Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
raw_tags: of typefaces
examples: text: […] even the boldeſt and moſt affirmative Philoſophy, which has ever attempted to impoſe its crude Dictates and Principles on Mankind.
ref: 1748, [David Hume], “Essay I. On the different Species of Philosophy.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part I, page 18:
glosses: Presumptuous, forward or impudent.
examples: text: All of her children are terribly bold and never do as they are told.
glosses: Naughty; insolent; badly-behaved.
topics: beverages
food
lifestyle
oenology
wine
glosses: Full-bodied.
raw_tags: of alcoholic beverages
examples: text: The government warned bus operators against continuing to show bold content on buses.
glosses: Pornographic; depicting nudity.
examples: text: The grounds descend with a bold slope to the water's edge, and rise finely upwards above the mansion, abounding with fine trees, and ornamented by a range of building at a distance, in a corresponding style […]
ref: 1808, William Bernard Cooke, A New Picture of the Isle of Wight, page 144:
glosses: Steep or abrupt.
Synonyms: sense: courageous
word: audacious
sense: courageous
word: brave
sense: courageous
word: courageous
sense: courageous
word: daring
sense: courageous
word: forward
sense: courageous
word: doughty
Derived terms: blackboard bold
boldacious
bold as brass
boldface
bold-faced
boldfaced
bold film
boldhead
bold-hearted
boldish
boldly
bold move, Cotton
bold movie
boldship
bold star
demibold
extrabold
fortune favors the bold
fortune favours the bold
if I may be so bold
make bold
nonbold
overbold
semibold
superbold
ultrabold
unbold
Related terms: bield
bolden
boldness
embolden