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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

bailey

/ˈbeɪli/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does bailey mean?

noun

  1. The outer wall of a feudal castle.
  2. The space immediately within the outer wall of a castle or fortress.
  3. A prison or court of justice.
More meanings (16)

noun

  1. An argument which is controversial and more difficult to defend (in the context of a motte and bailey fallacy).
  2. An apple cultivar from New York

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. An English surname from Anglo-Norman [in turn originating as an occupation] for a steward or official.
  3. An English topographic surname from someone who lived by a bailey (the outer wall of a castle).
  4. An Irish surname originating as an occupation, an anglicization of Báille (“bailie”).
  5. A male given name transferred from the surname.
  6. A female given name transferred from the surname.
  7. A sea area, to the north of Rockall, centred on the former Bill Bailey Bank (now Rockall Basin), located in the Atlantic.
  8. An unincorporated community in Park County, Colorado.
  9. An unincorporated community in Sherburne County, Minnesota.
  10. An unincorporated community in Lauderdale County, Mississippi.
  11. An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Missouri; named for early settler John Martin Bailey.
  12. A town in Nash County, North Carolina.
  13. A ghost town in Grady County, Oklahoma.
  14. A minor city in Fannin County, Texas.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈbeɪli/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Miss Bailey, the professor's daughter, accompanied the expedition, and told me of many indigenous plants with long names.
Joshua SlocumSailing Alone Around the WorldProject Gutenberg ebook #6317
With characteristic insistence Peace declared his passion for Mrs. Bailey by threatening to shoot her if she did not become his.
H. B. (Henry Brodribb) IrvingA Book of Remarkable CriminalsProject Gutenberg ebook #446
More book examples (3)
Mrs-Tannie Edison Bailey, the sister, had, on the other hand, a great deal of literary ability, and spent much of her time in writing.
Frank Lewis Dyer; Thomas Commerford MartinEdison: His Life and InventionsProject Gutenberg ebook #820
I, however, had dispensed with the two middle names long before I left Maryland so that I was generally known by the name of “Frederick Bailey.”
Frederick DouglassNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveProject Gutenberg ebook #23
Therefore, all the Old Bailey doors were well guarded--except, indeed, the social doors by which the criminals got there, and those were always left wide open.
Charles DickensA Tale of Two CitiesProject Gutenberg ebook #98