a professional, licensed individual who will pay a percentage of your bail so that you may be released from jail

Any person in the business of becoming or engaging in a surety on a bail bond for compensation, and includes any agent of such person.

A person or business operating by posting bond for a defendant in exchange for a fee paid by the defendant. If the defendant fulfills bail, the bond is returned to the bail bondsman. If the defendant flees or otherwise violates bail, he or she is liable to the bail bondsman for the amount of the bond. Since the fee paid to a bail bondsman is much less than the amount of the actual bond, the defendant need not possess the entire sum required by the bond in order to be released from jail. The bail bondsman's fee, like fees for other services, is not refundable.

A person who, for a fee, advances an arrested person the securities required for bail to obtain his release from custody until trial.

A bail bondsman is any person or corporation which will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of a criminal defendant in court. Although banks, insurance companies and other similar institutions are usually the sureties on other types of contracts, for example, to bond a contractor who is under a contractual obligation to pay for the completion of a construction project, such entities are reluctant to put their depositors' or policyholders' funds at the kind of risk involved in posting a bail bond. Bail bondsmen, on the other hand, are usually in the business to cater exclusively to criminal defendants, often securing their customers' release in just a few hours.