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."
4. Destitute of dignity or value; paltry; mean.
5. <botany> Destitute of a beard or awn; as, bald wheat.
6. <zoology> Destitute of the natural covering. Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced.
<zoology> Bald buzzard, a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.
Origin: OE. Balled, ballid, perh. The p.p. Of ball to reduce to the roundness or smoothness of a ball, by removing hair. But cf. W. Bali whiteness in a horse's forehead.
(01 Mar 1998)
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