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Origin and history of bailey

bailey(n.)

Middle English baylle, "wall enclosing an outer court" of a castle, fortified city, etc. (c. 1200 in Anglo-Latin, late 13c. in place-names), a variant of bail, from Old French bail "stake, palisade, brace," which is of unknown origin, perhaps ultimately connected to Latin bacula "sticks," on notion of "stakes, palisade fence."

The word was extended to mean the outer court itself (early 14c.). Hence Old Bailey, seat of Central Criminal Court in London, so called because it stood within the ancient bailey of the city wall. The surname Bailey usually is from Old French bailli, a later form of baillif (see bailiff). Bailey's, the Irish whiskey- and cream-based liqueur, was introduced in 1974 and said to have been named for the historic Bailey's Hotel in London.

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to bailey

bailiff(n.)

c. 1300 (early 13c. in surnames), "subordinate administrative or judicial officer of the English crown, king's officer in a county, hundred, or other local district;" also "keeper of a royal castle;" also "minor judiciary officer under a sheriff," who serves writs, etc.; from Old French baillif (12c., nominative baillis) "administrative official, deputy," from Vulgar Latin *baiulivus "official in charge of a castle," from Latin baiulus "porter" (see bail (n.1)). From early 14c. as "agent of a lord, overseer of an estate" who directs operations, collects rents, etc.; also used in Middle English of an elected official in a town.

bail(n.2)

"horizontal piece of wood in a cricket wicket," c. 1742, originally "a cross bar" of any sort (1570s), probably identical with French bail "horizontal piece of wood affixed on two stakes," and with English bail "palisade wall, outer wall of a castle" (see bailey). From 1904 as the hinged bar which holds the paper against the platen of a typewriter.

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    claptrap
    [Bailey, "Dictionarium Britannicum," London, 1730]...
    chubby
    ME chubbe ... was also used of a "lazy, spiritless fellow; a rustic, simpleton; dolt, fool" (1558), whilst Bailey has " Chub...
    behemoth
    Bailey, who invented the tank on wheels now used so generally in the circuses....
    Prince Charming
    [Temple Bailey, "Adventures in Girlhood," Philadelphia, 1919]  See charming. ...
    wall
    Old English weall, Anglian wall "rampart, dike, earthwork" (natural as well as man-made), "dam, cliff, rocky shore," also "defensive fortification around a city, side of a building," an Anglo-Frisian and Saxon borrowing (Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wal
    rampart
    "earthen elevation around a place for fortification," capable of resisting cannon shot and sometimes also including parapets, 1580s, from French rempart, rampart, from remparer "to fortify," from re- "again" (see re-) + emparer "fortify, take possession of," from Old Provençal am
    bulwark
    early 15c., "a fortification outside a city wall or gate; a rampart, barricade," from Middle Dutch bulwerke or Middle High German bolwerc, probably [Skeat] from bole "plank, tree trunk" (from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell") + werc "work" (see work
    court
    late 12c., "formal assembly held by a sovereign," from Old French cort "king's court; princely residence" (11c., Modern French cour), from Latin cortem, accusative of cors (earlier cohors) "enclosed yard," and by extension (and perhaps by association with curia "sovereign's assem
    specious
    late 14c., "pleasing to the sight, fair," from Latin speciosus "good-looking, beautiful, fair," also "showy, pretended, plausible, specious" (source also of Old French specieux, specieuse), from species "appearance, form, figure, beauty" (see species). Meaning "seemingly desirabl
    club
    c. 1200, "thick stick wielded in the hand and used as a weapon," from Old Norse klubba "cudgel" or a similar Scandinavian source (compare Swedish klubba, Danish klubbe), assimilated from Proto-Germanic *klumbon and related to clump (n.). Old English words for this were sagol, cyc

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