bleat

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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bleat (plural bleats)

  1. The characteristic cry of a sheep or a goat.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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bleat (third-person singular simple present bleats, present participle bleating, simple past and past participle bleated)

  1. 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.
  2. (informal, derogatory) Of a person, to complain.
    The last thing we need is to hear them bleating to us about organizational problems.
  3. (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.
    • 2016, James Lovegrove, Age of Heroes[1], Solaris, →ISBN:
      I can't have, for instance, Heracles come bleating to me at some future date, asking please can he have his bow back, and getting all stroppy when I refuse to tell him where it is.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Old English

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *blaut, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz, whence also Old High German blōz (naked), Old Norse blautr. More at blouse.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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blēat

  1. wretched, miserable

Declension

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Middle English: *blete, *bleet

West Frisian

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Etymology

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From Old Frisian blāt, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz.

Cognate with Dutch bloot, German bloß.

Adjective

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bleat

  1. bare, naked
  2. poor

Inflection

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Inflection of bleat
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

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  • bleat (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011