bague, baghe, a ring, brooch. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 54, back, 8; lf. 98. 11. F. bague.
baies, scoldings (?). ‘Ill servant . . . deserveth hir fee to be paid hir with baies’, Tusser, Husbandry, § 81. 2.
bain, a bath. Chapman, tr. Odyssey, x. 567; to bathe, Greene, The Palmer’s Verses, l. 88 (Capricornus); bayne, Surrey, Desc. of restless state of a Lover, 13. F. bain.
bain, supple, lithe. Golding, Metam. iv. 354 (fol. 48); xv. 202; fol. 182 (1603). In common prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Bain, sb. 1). ME. beyn, ‘flexibilis’ (Prompt.). Icel. beinn, straight; also, ready to serve.
bains; see [banes].
bait, to stop at an inn to feed the horses, also to stop for refreshment; used fig. ‘Evil news rides post, while good news baits’, Milton, Samson, 1538. In prov. use in the sense of stopping to feed. See EDD. (s.v. Bait, vb.1 2).
bald, marked with white upon the head. Hence ‘bald coot’, a coot (Fulica atra); Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, i. 1 (Zanthia). In prov. use (EDD.).
bale, a set of dice; usually three. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host); Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 1 (Young Chartley); A Woman never vexed, ii. 1 (Stephen). See NED. (s.v. Bale, sb.3 4).
ball, a white streak on a horse’s face. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 73. Hence ball, as a horse’s name; orig. one marked with a white streak; Tusser, Husbandry, § 95, st. 2. Prob. of Celtic origin; cp. Gael. ball, spot, mark, Breton bal, a white mark on an animal’s face.
balloon, a game in which a large ball (like a football) was struck by the arm, which was protected by a stout guard. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Sir Petronel); Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, iv. 1 (1st Lady). Balloo, in the phr. at the Balloo (B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1: Volpone), must be an error for at the Balloon, i.e. when playing at the game. Also balloon-ball, Middleton, Game at Chess, ii. 1 (B. Knight).