bail out

• bale out

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bail out (third-person singular simple present bails out, present participle bailing out, simple past and past participle bailed out)

1. (transitive) To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail money.
2. (transitive, nautical) To remove water from a boat by scooping it out.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     But it passed, leaving us up to our knees in water. 'Bail out! bail out!' shouted Job, suiting the action to the word.

3. (transitive, idiomatic) To rescue, especially financially.

   Once again, the industry got itself in trouble and government had to bail it out.

   • 2012 August 1, Owen Gibson, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal‎, Guardian Unlimited:

     Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Afghanistan, is not the first soldier to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.

4. (intransitive, usually with of) To exit an aircraft while in flight.

   Make sure your parachute harness is securely fastened before you bail out!

   • 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage:

     Holmes bailed out of his fighter and parachuted onto an apartment house.

5. (intransitive, idiomatic, slang, with of) To leave (or not attend at all) a place or a situation, especially quickly or when the situation has become undesirable.

   I'm going to bail out of class today.

6. (intransitive, idiomatic, colloquial, with of) To sell all or part of one's holdings in stocks, real estate, a business, etc.

   I'm going to bail out of stocks and buy gold instead.

7. (intransitive, with of) To make an unscheduled voluntary termination of an underwater dive, usually implying the use of an alternative breathing gas supply.

• (leave an aircraft while in flight): eject

• bailout, bail-out

• obitual, tabouli