Bald (?), a. [OE. balled, ballid, perh. the p.p. of ball to reduce to the roundness or smoothness of a ball, by removing hair. &root;85. 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.
Destitute of a beard or awn; as, bald wheat.
6. Zool. (a)
Destitute of the natural covering.
(b)
Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced.
Bald buzzard Zool., the fishhawk or osprey. -- Bald coot Zool., a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.
© Webster 1913.