A machine that compresses hay, straw, or other crops into compact bundles called bales for easier storage and transport.
From 'bale' plus the agent suffix '-er' meaning one who does something. The machine emerged in the 19th century with agricultural mechanization, and the word naturally followed the pattern of naming tools after their function.
Balers revolutionized farming by turning labor-intensive hand-bundling into a mechanical process, which is why hay bales became those iconic cylindrical shapes you see in fields.
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