Adjacent Words

Bold definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BOLD, a.
1. Daring; courageous; brave; intrepid; fearless; applied to men or other animals; as, bold as a lion.
2. Requiring courage in the execution; executed with spirit or boldness; planned with courage and spirit; as a bold enterprise.
3. Confident; not timorous.
We were bold in our God to speak to you. 1 Th 2.
4. In an ill sense, rude, forward, impudent.
5. Licentious; showing great liberty of fiction or expression; as, the figures of an author are bold.
6. Standing out to view; striking to the eye; as bold figures in painting, sculpture and architecture.
7. Steep; abrupt; prominent; as a bold shore, which enters the water almost perpendicularly, so that ships can approach near to land without danger.
Where the bold cape its warning forehead rears.
To make bold, to take freedoms; a common, but not a correct phrase. To be bold is better.
BOLD, v.t. To make daring. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: fearless and daring; "bold settlers on some foreign shore"; "a bold speech"; "a bold adventure" [ant: timid]
2: clear and distinct; "bold handwriting"; "a figure carved in bold relief"; "a bold design"
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" [syn: bluff, bold, sheer] n
1: a typeface with thick heavy lines [syn: boldface, bold face, bold]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Old English beald; akin to Old High German bald bold Date: before 12th century 1. a. fearless before danger ; intrepid b. showing or requiring a fearless daring spirit <a bold plan> 2. impudent, presumptuous 3. obsolete assured, confident 4. sheer, steep <bold cliffs> 5. adventurous, free <a bold thinker> 6. standing out prominently 7. being or set in boldface • boldly adverb • boldness noun II. noun Date: circa 1871 boldface

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 confidently assertive; adventurous, courageous. 2 forthright, impudent. 3 vivid, distinct, well-marked (bold colours; a bold imagination). 4 Printing (in full bold-face or -faced) printed in a thick black typeface. Phrases and idioms: as bold as brass excessively bold or self-assured. make (or be) so bold as to presume to; venture to. Derivatives: boldly adv. boldness n. Etymology: OE bald dangerous f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bold Bold (b[=o]ld), a. [OE. bald, bold, AS. bald, beald; akin to Icel. ballr, OHG. bald, MHG. balt, D. boud, Goth. bal[thorn]ei boldness, It. baldo. In Ger. there remains only bald, adv. soon. Cf. Bawd, n.] 1. Forward to meet danger; venturesome; daring; not timorous or shrinking from risk; brave; courageous. Throngs of knights and barons bold. --Milton. 2. Exhibiting or requiring spirit and contempt of danger; planned with courage; daring; vigorous. ``The bold design leased highly.'' --Milton. 3. In a bad sense, too forward; taking undue liberties; over assuming or confident; lacking proper modesty or restraint; rude; impudent. Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice. --Shak. 4. Somewhat overstepping usual bounds, or conventional rules, as in art, literature, etc.; taking liberties in composition or expression; as, the figures of an author are bold. ``Bold tales.'' --Waller. The cathedral church is a very bold work. --Addison. 5. Standing prominently out to view; markedly conspicuous; striking the eye; in high relief. Shadows in painting . . . make the figure bolder. --Dryden. 6. Steep; abrupt; prominent. Where the bold cape its warning forehead rears. --Trumbull.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bold Bold, v. t. To make bold or daring. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bold Bold, v. i. To be or become bold. [Obs.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bolder, boldest) 1. Someone who is bold is not afraid to do things which involve risk or danger. Amrita becomes a bold, daring rebel... In 1960 this was a bold move... Poland was already making bold economic reforms. = brave ? cautious ADJ • boldly You can and must act boldly and confidently. ADV: ADV with v • boldness Don't forget the boldness of his economic programme. 2. Someone who is bold is not shy or embarrassed in the company of other people. I don't feel I'm being bold, because it's always been natural for me to just speak out about whatever disturbs me. = brave ? timid ADJ: usu v-link ADJ • boldly 'You should do it,' the girl said, boldly. ADV 3. A bold colour or pattern is very bright and noticeable. ...bold flowers in various shades of red, blue or white. ...bold, dramatic colours. ADJ • boldly The design is pretty startling and very boldly coloured. ADV 4. Bold lines or designs are drawn in a clear, strong way. Each picture is shown in colour on one page and as a bold outline on the opposite page. = vivid ADJ 5. Bold is print which is thicker and looks blacker than ordinary printed letters. (TECHNICAL) N-UNCOUNT: usu N n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Fearless, dauntless, daring, valiant, valorous, doughty, undaunted, hardy, intrepid, courageous, brave, heroic, audacious, adventurous, gallant, spirited, mettlesome, manful, manly, stout-hearted, bold-spirited. 2. Confident, assured, self-reliant, self-possessed, self-poised, free from bashfulness. 3. Impudent, insolent, rude, impertinent, saucy, forward, pushing, assuming, brazen-faced, bold-faced. 4. Conspicuous, striking, prominent, standing out to the view. 5. Steep, abrupt, precipitous, prominent.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Bold as a miller's shirt, which every day takes a rogue by the collar.

Moby Thesaurus

abrupt, adventurous, arrant, arrogant, audacious, aweless, barefaced, blatant, bluff, bold as brass, bold-spirited, boldfaced, bossed, bossy, brash, brassy, brave, brazen, brazenfaced, breakneck, bumptious, challenging, chased, cheeky, chivalric, chivalrous, clear, cocky, confident, conspicuous, contemptuous, contumelious, courageous, daredevil, daring, dauntless, death-defying, defiant, defying, derisive, disdainful, disregardful, distinct, doughty, embossed, eminent, emissile, enterprising, excrescent, excrescential, exhibitionistic, extruding, fearless, fire-eating, fit for sea, flagrant, foolhardy, forward, fresh, gallant, glaring, greathearted, greatly daring, hanging out, hardy, harebrained, headlong, heroic, herolike, immodest, impertinent, impudent, in relief, in the foreground, incautious, insolent, intrepid, ironhearted, jutting, knightlike, knightly, lionhearted, lost to shame, madbrain, madbrained, madcap, manful, manly, nervy, notable, noticeable, notorious, obtrusive, ostensible, outstanding, pert, plucky, plunging, precipitous, presumptuous, procacious, prognathous, projecting, prominent, pronounced, protrudent, protruding, protrusile, protrusive, protuberant, protuberating, raised, rapid, rash, reckless, regardless of consequences, resolute, salient, sassy, saucy, sea-kindly, seaworthy, shameless, sharp, sheer, smart, smart-alecky, snug, soldierlike, soldierly, stalwart, staring, stark-staring, steep, sticking out, stiff, stout, stouthearted, striking, strong, swaggering, temerarious, tender, unabashed, unafraid, unashamed, unblushing, undaunted, unembarrassed, unmodest, valiant, valorous, venturesome, vertical, vigorous, vivid, waterproof, watertight, weatherly, wild, wild-ass