To have bade farewell means to have said goodbye, usually in a formal or meaningful way. Bade is the past tense of an old-fashioned meaning of the word bid, which can mean to express or declare something. (In this context, the word “bade” is pronounced “bade,” rhyming with “made.”)

When someone bade farewell, they took a moment to acknowledge that a parting was happening, often with some ceremony or weight. A sea captain might have bade farewell to his family before a long voyage. A knight in a medieval story might bid farewell to the king before riding off to battle. Today, we still use bid farewell when we want to sound formal or respectful, like when a retiring teacher bids farewell to her students after thirty years.

The phrase carries a sense of ceremony or importance. You wouldn't usually say you bade farewell to your friend after math class, but you might bid farewell to a beloved place you're moving away from, or to someone heading off on a major journey. It's the kind of goodbye that recognizes something significant is ending or changing, not just a casual “catch you tomorrow.”