A bail-out is money given or lent to a person or a company that is in deep trouble, so they do not collapse. The typical picture in the news is a government or a bank stepping in: an airline that cannot pay its bills, a bank after a crash, a city that has run out of cash. The help may be a loan, a gift of public money, or a deal that keeps the doors open. The word comes from the everyday verb to bail someone out — to pull them out of trouble — and the noun kept that picture. It is at home in serious money talk, but people stretch it too: a friend who pays your rent this month has given you a bail-out as well, not only a state helping a firm. The feeling is always the same — you were sinking, and someone pulled you up with money. Though actually, this is not the legal money you pay a court so a person can leave jail while they wait; that is just bail. And the verb bail out can also mean to jump from a plane, or to scoop water from a boat. This noun, in the sense you are learning, is the money-help one.