A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1420, 1475-1627
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Bale, Baill, n.1 Also: baile, baille. [ME. bale (bayle, baylle), OE. balu (bealu), balo.] Misery, suffering, pain, sorrow.Only in poetry, and frequently in alliterative phrases.(a) a1400 Legends of the Saints iv. 316 (in hart scho had so mekil bale); xxx. 178 (lat be, and of bale blyne); l. 1037 (quhat wondire is I brist for bale); etc. c1420 Wynt. i. 624 ( … in-til bale owre bute sulde be); v. 1921 (hyr byrth sall brew ws mekyll bale). a1499 Contemplacioun of Synnaris 1048 (fra bliss to bale changit is my cheire); 1224 (ȝour baggis may no thing beit ȝour bale). a1568 Bannatyne MS 31 a/25 (we may nocht in this vale of bale abyd). a1570-86 Maitland Folio MS lxxxiv. 14 (in blis or bale than man thow wend to wyne).(b) c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace iv. 337 (now blisful, now in baill); vi. 202 (bytter baill that in his breyst was bound); etc. a1500 Buke of the Sevyne Sagis 525 (than blynnit the emprys of hir baile). 1513 Doug. viii. Prol. 80 (baill hes banyst blythnes); xii. ii. 15 (haue piete of my wofull baill). 1535 Stewart 35982 (blyn of ȝour baill, se ȝe be blyth and glaid). c1552 Lynd. Mon. 1139 (quhow Adam dwelt with mekle baill in Mamber). 1567 Gude and Godlie Ballatis 215 (thus beutie bringis baill to mony men). a1570-86 Maitland Folio MS clxx. 168 (God will bring ȝow frome baill).c1614 Mure Dido & Æneas ii. 520 (what fate hath turn'd thy blesse to baill?). a1627 Craig v. 6/5 (nought but blacke baile); 24/15 (a baile-bearing bill).
b. Occas. used in the plural.a1400 Legends of the Saints xxiv. 488 (nocht but ded my balis ma bet). a1500 Henr. III. 115/39 (and sa blythtly my balis beit). c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxiii. 12 (remenant all thow brukis bot with balis). c1550 Rolland Court of Venus i. 415 (the caus thow bruikis of lufe sic baillis). a1568 Scott xiii. 23 (to ȝow quha ma my baillis beit).
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"Bale n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/bale_n_1>
