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bold

UK/ˈbəʊld/ US/ˈbɒʊɫd/ common informal
adjective (3) noun (1)

adjective

1.

fearless and daring

  • “bold settlers on some foreign shore”
  • “a bold speech”
  • “a bold adventure”
Antonyms
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2.

clear and distinct

  • “bold handwriting”
  • “a figure carved in bold relief”
  • “a bold design”
Similar
3.

very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front

  • “a bluff headland”
  • “where the bold chalk cliffs of England rise”
  • “a sheer descent of rock”
Synonyms
Similar

noun

1.

a typeface with thick heavy lines

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to bloat, swell, bubble”). Cognate with Dutch boud (“bold, courageous, fearless”), Middle High German balt (“bold”) (whence German bald (“soon”)), Swedish båld (“bold, dauntless”). Perhaps related to Albanian ballë (“forehead”) and Old Prussian balo (“forehead”). Compare typologically Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold, daring, insolent”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).

Phrases

  • blackboard bold
  • bold as brass
  • bold film
  • bold move, Cotton
  • bold movie
  • bold star
  • fortune favors the bold
  • fortune favours the bold

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.