bold

Meanings

Noun

• A dwelling; habitation; building.

Adjective

• Courageous, daring.
• Visually striking; conspicuous.
• Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
• Presumptuous, forward or impudent.
• Naughty; insolent; badly-behaved.
• Full-bodied.
• Pornographic; depicting nudity.
• Steep or abrupt.

Verb

• To make (a font or some text) bold.
• To make bold or daring.
• To become bold.

Related

Similar words

• audacious, brave, courageous, daring, forward, doughty

Origin

• From Middle English bold, from Old English bold, blod, bolt, botl, from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- ("to grow, wax, swell") or *bʰuH-.
• Cognate with Old Frisian bold ("house") (whence North Frisian bol, boel, bøl), North Frisian bodel, budel, Middle Low German būdel ("property, real estate"). Related to build.
• From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald, from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē-.
• 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 and Old Prussian balo. For semantic development compare Italian affrontare, sfrontato, both from Latin frons.
• From Middle English bolden, balden, from Old English baldian, bealdian, from Proto-Germanic *balþōną, related to *balþaz (see above). Cognate with Old High German irbaldōn.