Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAIL, v.t. [Fr. and Norm. bailler, to deliver, to lease; Arm. bahailhat; Ar. بَهَلَ bahala; Eth. ባልሐ baleah, to deliver, free, liberate, permit to go.]

1. To set free, deliver, or liberate from arrest and imprisonment, upon security given that the person bailed shall appear and answer in court. The word is applied to the magistrate, or the surety. The magistrate bails a man, when he liberates him from arrest or imprisonment, upon bond given with sureties. The surety bails a person, when he procures his release from arrest, by giving bond for his appearance. – Blackstone.
2. To deliver goods in trust, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee or person intrusted; as, to bail cloth to tailor to be made into a garment, or to bail goods to a carrier. – Blackstone.
3. To free from water; as, to bail a boat. This word is improperly written bale. The word is probably the same as bail in law, to free, or liberate, and signifies to throw out water, as with a bucket or shovel.