bale

bail, bale

1. The spelling bail (ultimately from Old French bailler ‘to take charge of’) is always used with reference to securing the release of a person with an undertaking to return to court on an appointed day. Figuratively, too, a person or organization may be bailed out, or released, from a debt or other difficulty (a desperate junkie who keeps getting bailed out of trouble by his mother).

2. In the meaning ‘to scoop water out of a boat’, or ‘to make an emergency parachute jump from an aircraft’ the spelling bale (out) is now usual, as if the action were that of letting a bale (i.e. bundle, as in bale of hay) through a trapdoor, even though the word is of different origin from the noun bale (from Old French baille, ‘bucket’). Bale out also has the figurative sense ‘escape abruptly from a difficult situation’ (I won't be offended if you want to bale out early) and because this comes close to the corresponding (transitive) use of bail out (in 1 above) it can sometimes intrude on it; but the distinction between the two words is a useful one and is best preserved.