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bail⁴

(bāl)

1. Chiefly British A pole or bar used to confine or separate animals.

2. Sports One of the two crossbars that form the top of a wicket used in the game of cricket.

[Old French dialectal, probably from Latin baculum, stick; see BACILLUS.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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