ireland.localmean.com/bold
bold
BOLD
Local meaning
Naughty, badly behaved, or disobedient, especially of a child.
Irish bold commonly judges behaviour rather than courage. A bold child has misbehaved, ignored instructions, or done something they should not have done.
Examples in context
- Don’t be bold—leave your sister alone.
- He was a bold little fella in school.
How it is used
The courageous or daring meaning still exists, so context decides which sense applies.
Corrective, parental, affectionate, stern, or teasing.
Family, school, childcare, and recollections of childhood.
Commonly understood in Ireland; naturalness varies by region, generation, and relationship.
Do not praise a child for bravery if the speaker is actually describing misbehaviour.
Spelling and scope
Contemporary Irish English, with regional and generational variation.
- Search and reference forms
bold childbeing bold
LocalMean keeps common search spellings discoverable. Regional, historical, and Irish-language forms remain attached to one canonical meaning page rather than being split into duplicate entries.
Common patterns
- a bold child
- don’t be bold
- bold out
Read next
All words →Evidence and further reading
These sources support the vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, or cultural context. The entry remains open to correction from Irish speakers, regional communities, and qualified reviewers.
- The Oxford Handbook of Irish EnglishOxford University Press
Comprehensive scholarly overview of English varieties across the island of Ireland, including history, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, pragmatics, and regional variation.
- The Vocabulary of Irish EnglishOxford Academic
Scholarly chapter on the vocabulary of Irish English and the corpus evidence used to describe it.