Etymology From Middle English bale (“evil”), from Old English bealu, from Proto-West Germanic *balu, from Proto-Germanic *balwą. Cognate with Low German bal- (“bad, ill”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (balweins, “torture”), Old High German balo (“destruction”), Old Norse bǫl (“disaster”).
1
Evil, especially considered as an active force for destruction or death.
2
Suffering, woe, torment.
That other ſwayne, like aſhes deadly pale, Lay in the lap of death, rewing his wretched bale.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 441:
Rome, and her Rats, are at the point of battell, The one ſide muſt haue baile.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 2, column 2:
1 more example
Ffor if you wold comfort me with a kisse, Then were I brought ffrom bale to blisse, Noe longer here wold I lye.1885, “Sir Cawline”, in Francis James Child, editor, The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 2:
Etymology From Middle English bale (“pyre, funeral pyre”), from Old English bǣl (“pyre, funeral pyre”), from Proto-Germanic *bēlą (“pyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine; gleam; sparkle”). Cognate with Old Norse bál (which may have been the direct source for the English word).
1
Obsolete A large fire, a conflagration or bonfire.
Etymology From Middle English bale (“bale”), from Old French bale and Medieval Latin bala, of Germanic origin. Doublet of ball.
1
A rounded bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation.
So having made up my mind, I packed up in bales a quantity of precious stuffs suited for sea-trade and repaired with them from Baghdad-city to Bassorah-town, where I found ship ready for sea, and in her a company of considerable merchants.1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:
2
A bundle of compressed fibers (especially hay, straw, cotton, or wool), compacted for shipping and handling and bound by twine or wire.
What I claim therein as new, and desire to be secured by Letters Patent is the within described apparatus for forming a bale of cotton under pressure on a spindle or revolving rod,...1847, editorial staff, “Packing and Pressing Cotton”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68:
3
A measurement of hay equal to 10 flakes. Approximately 70-90 lbs (32-41 kg).