Careful Words

bold (n.)

bold (v.)

bold (adj.)

  The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Old Testament: Proverbs xxviii. 1.

A bold bad man.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): Faerie Queene. Book i. Canto i. St. 37.

This bold bad man.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Be bolde, Be bolde, and everywhere, Be bold.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): Faerie Queene. Book iii. Canto xi. St. 54.

Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe,

Bold I can meet,—perhaps may turn his blow!

But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,

Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend!

George Canning (1770-1827): New Morality.

Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn,

What dangers thou canst make us scorn!

Robert Burns (1759-1796): Tam o' Shanter.

  He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Measure for Measure. Act iii. Sc. 1.