adj
Meaning 1
Bashful, sheepish.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England, Scotland
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
blate
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/bleɪt/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -eɪt
adj
Meaning 2
Dull, stupid.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England, Scotland
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
Archaic form of bleat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 4
disposed to avoid notice; (`blate' is a Scottish term for bashful)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- they considered themselves a tough outfit and weren't bashful about letting anybody know it
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bashful
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
cry plaintively
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The lambs were bleating
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bleat, blat, baa
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: utter, emit, let out, let loose
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots blate (“timid, sheepish”), apparently a conflation of: * Northern Middle English *blate, *blait (“pale, ghastly, terrified”), from Old English blāt (“pale, livid, ghastly”), from Proto-West Germanic *blait (“pale, discoloured”), from Proto-Germanic *blaitaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bhleyd- (“pale, pallid”); * Middle English bleth, bleath (“timid, soft”), from Old English blēaþ (“gentle, shy, cowardly, timid; slothful, inactive, effeminate”), from Proto-Germanic *blauþuz (“weak, timid, void, naked”). Cognate with German blassen (“to make pale”), bleich (“pale, pallid”). More at bleak, bleach.