bail

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English beyle, from Old English bīeġels, from bīeġan + -els.

1. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).

   “I reached across beneath the cow to attach a metal bail to each end of the strap so that the bail hung about 5 inches below the cow's belly.[…]While stroking and talking to the cow, I reached under and suspended the machine on the bail beneath the cow, with its four suction cups dangling to one side.”

2. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).

   “1953, British Institute of Management, Centre for Farm Management, Farm Management Association, Farm Managememt, 1960, John Wiley, page 160, More recently, the fixed bail, sometimes called the ‘milking parlour’, with either covered or open yards, has had a certain vogue and some very enthusiastic claims have been made for this method of housing.”

   “2011, Edith H. Whetham, Joan Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume 8: Volumes 1914-1939, page 191, Ten men thus sufficed for the milking of three hundred cows in five bails, instead of the thirty men who would normally have been employed by conventional methods.”

3. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
4. A frame to restrain a cow during milking or feeding.

   “But until he had poured enough milk into the vat above the separator, I drove unmilked cows into the bail where he had previously milked and released one. He moved from one bail to the other to milk the next one I had readied. I drove each cow into the empty bail, chained her in, roped the outer hind leg then washed and massaged the udder and teats.”

5. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
6. One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.

   “As Jason Roy's throw came in from deep mid-wicket, a diving Guptill was short when Buttler removed the bails, sending England and the whole of Lord's into delirious celebrations.”

7. Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree French baillierbor. English bail Borrowed from French baillier.

1. To confine.
2. To secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
3. To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up.

   “The transition over the rooftop would have been quicker if Sellers had not been bailed up by a particularly hostile spiritual presence speaking Swedish.”

   “While celebrating our “graduation”, a handsome Scot bailed me up outside a pub and insisted I help him solve the cryptic crossword.”