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to bail

to bail

14 7.0
To remove water from a boat using a bucket
  • verb
  • /beɪl/
translation icon : achicar
  • You need to bail the water from the boat before it sinks.
  • bail water
  • bail out the boat
  • start bailing

Examples

  • Start bailing and try to figure out what you can jam in the hole?

    Blog text (9)
  • No more touching of sand, all you can do is bail water out.

  • In a short time, we had six men in the boat, all bailing.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • That's why we've got to bail out the water as fast as we can.

  • When waves topped the gunwales and poured inside, she set one hand to bailing and held on for dear life with the other.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The little skiff carried three men, one rowing, one steering, and one bailing water as fast as he could to keep it afloat.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • After the storm, many people had to bail the excess water out of their canoes.

  • I grabbed a bucket to bail out the water that had collected in the bottom of the boat.

Synonyms

to bail out
vsto bail
3 4.7

Remove water from a boat by scooping it out

is general removal with a container, not necessarily repeated scooping
to bale out
vsto bail
6.1

To scoop water out of a boat and throw it over the side

is general removal with a container rather than specific scooping and throwing

Antonyms

176 1.0

To cover a place with water when it overflows

Phrasal Verbs

84 3.7

Give money to stop a person or business from failing

to bail out
  • Informal
42 4.4

Pay money to free someone from jail

3 4.7

Remove water from a boat by scooping it out

Compounds

bail bond
  • Formal
4 6.6

A written promise to pay money if a person accused of a crime does not go to court

How Mechanized

to pipe
  • Specialized
21 3.0
scoop
16 2.1
to bail
14 7.0

Surface Forms

bail infinitive
bailed past
bailed past participle
bailing present participle
bails third person singular

Etymology

Bail (to remove water) comes from an old word for a 'bucket' or the action of throwing water out of a boat. So to bail a boat is to scoop and send water out so it will not sink.