BAALI

ba'-a-li ba`ali, "my master"): Baal, a common name for all heathen gods, had in common practice been used also of Yahweh. Hosea (2:16,17) demands that Yahweh be no longer called Ba`ali ("my Baal" = "my lord") but 'Ishi ("my husband"), and we find that later the Israelites abandoned the use of Ba`al for Yahweh.

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.