bleat
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English bleten, from Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”), from Proto-West Germanic *blātijan, from Proto-Germanic *blētijaną (“to bleat”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to howl, cry, bleat”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to make a loud noise”).
Cognate with Scots blete, bleit, West Frisian bâlte, blaaien, blêtsje (“to bleat”), Dutch blaten (“to bleat”), Low German bleten (“to bleat”), German blaßen, blässen (“to bleat”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
bleat (plural bleats)
Examples | |||
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- The characteristic cry of a sheep or a goat.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
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Verb edit
bleat (third-person singular simple present bleats, present participle bleating, simple past and past participle bleated)
- Of a sheep or goat, to make its characteristic cry; of a human, to mimic this sound.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 99:
- In the year 1633, the Bridget Nuns, near Xanthus, behaved like sheep, jumping about and bleating continuously.
- (informal, derogatory) Of a person, to complain.
- The last thing we need is to hear them bleating to us about organizational problems.
- (informal, derogatory) Of a person, to say things of little importance to the listener.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- She came skipping to me just now, clapping her little hands and bleating about how very, very happy she was, dear Mrs Travers. The silly young geezer. I nearly conked her one with my trowel.
Synonyms edit
- (make the characteristic cry of a sheep or goat): baa
- (complain): kvetch (US), moan, whinge (UK), whine
Translations edit
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Anagrams edit
Old English edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-West Germanic *blaut, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz, whence also Old High German blōz (“naked”), Old Norse blautr. More at blouse.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
blēat
Declension edit
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
West Frisian edit
Etymology edit
From Old Frisian blāt, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz.
Adjective edit
bleat
Inflection edit
Inflection of bleat | ||||
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uninflected | bleat | |||
inflected | bleate | |||
comparative | bleater | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | bleat | bleater | it bleatst it bleatste | |
indefinite | c. sing. | bleate | bleatere | bleatste |
n. sing. | bleat | bleater | bleatste | |
plural | bleate | bleatere | bleatste | |
definite | bleate | bleatere | bleatste | |
partitive | bleats | bleaters | — |
Further reading edit
- “bleat (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011