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Bald

1. Destitute of the natural or common covering on the head or top, as of hair, feathers, foliage, trees, etc.; as, a bald head; a bald oak. On the bald top of an eminence. (Wordsworth)

2. Destitute of ornament; unadorned; bare; literal. In the preface to his own bald translation. (Dryden)

3. Undisguised. bald egotism.

4. Destitute of dignity or value; paltry; mean.

5. (Science: botany) destitute of a beard or awn; as, bald wheat.

6. (Science: zoology) destitute of the natural covering. Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced.

(Science: zoology) bald buzzard, a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.

Origin: oe. Balled, ballid, perh. The p.p. Of ball to reduce to the roundness or smoothness of a ball, by removing hair. But cf. W. Bali whiteness in a horses forehead.