- Bail
- Bail Bail, v. t. [OF. bailler to give, to deliver, fr. L.
bajulare to bear a burden, keep in custody, fr. bajulus he
who bears burdens.]
1. To deliver; to release. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Ne none there was to rescue her, ne none to bail. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
2. (Law) (a) To set free, or deliver from arrest, or out of custody, on the undertaking of some other person or persons that he or they will be responsible for the appearance, at a certain day and place, of the person bailed. [1913 Webster]
Note: The word is applied to the magistrate or the surety. The magistrate bails (but admits to bail is commoner) a man when he liberates him from arrest or imprisonment upon bond given with sureties. The surety bails a person when he procures his release from arrest by giving bond for his appearance. --Blackstone. [1913 Webster] (b) To deliver, as goods in trust, for some special object or purpose, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee, or person intrusted; as, to bail cloth to a tailor to be made into a garment; to bail goods to a carrier. --Blackstone. Kent. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.