Bold Definition

bōld
boldest, bolder
adjective
boldest, bolder
Showing a readiness to take risks or face danger; daring; fearless.
Webster's New World
Requiring or exhibiting courage or daring.
A bold voyage to unknown lands.
American Heritage
Too free in behavior or manner; taking liberties; impudent; shameless.
Webster's New World
Unduly forward and brazen; impudent.
A bold, sassy child.
American Heritage
Strikingly different or unconventional; arresting or provocative.
American Heritage
verb
To make (a font or some text) bold.
Wiktionary
idiom
make so bold as
  • to be so bold as; dare

    he made so bold as to ask for his money back

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Bold

Adjective

Base Form:
bold
Comparative:
bolder
Superlative:
boldest

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Bold

  • make so bold as

Origin of Bold

  • From Middle English bold, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), 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”). For semantic development compare Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold,daring”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English bold, from Old English bold, blod, bolt, botl (“house, dwelling-place, mansion, hall, castle, temple”), from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą (“house, dwelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bheu-, *bhū- (“to grow, wax, swell, live, dwell”). Cognate with Old Frisian bold (“house”) (whence North Frisian bol, boel, bøl (“house”)), North Frisian bodel, budel (“property, inheritance”), Middle Low German būdel (“property, real estate”). Related to build.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English bald bhel-2 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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