bate

• IPA^(key): /beɪt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Homophone: bait

Inherited from Middle English baten (“to abate”), an aphetic form of abaten.

bate (third-person singular simple present bates, present participle bating, simple past and past participle bated)

1. (transitive) To reduce the force of something; to abate.
   • 1717, John Dryden, “Book I. [The Transformation of Daphne into a Laurel.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 23:

     Ah, left ſome Thorn ſhoul'd pierce thy tender Foot, / Or thou ſhoul'dſt fall in flying my purſuit! / To ſharp uneven Ways thy ſteps decline; / Abate thy Speed, and I will bate of mine.

2. (transitive) To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation
   • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Home and Its Sorrows”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 66:

     […] and to his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story of the stroke with the willow wand.

3. (transitive, sometimes figuratively) To cut off, remove, take away.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XVII.] CHAP. XVIII. The manner of planting, ordering, and dressing Olive trees. Also which be the conuenient times for graffing.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 521:

     Also about Autumne bate the earth from about the roots of Olives, and lay them bare, but in stead thereof put good mucke thereto.

   • 1674, [Richard Allestree], “Of Positiveness”, in The Government of the Tongue. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Theater, →OCLC, page 197:

     Nay, if he be of a proud humour, […] he will not Bate an Ace of abſolute certainty, but however doubtful or improbable the thing is, coming f[r]om him it muſt go for an indiſputable truth.

4. (archaic, transitive) To leave out, except, bar.
   • c. 1608–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Maid’s Tragedy”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2, column 2:

     Bate the King, and be he fleſh and blood, / He lyes that ſaies it, thy mother at fifteen / Was black and ſinful to her.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 7, column 1:

     Bate (I beſeech you) widdow Dido.

5. To waste away.
   • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     Bardoll, am I not falne away vilely ſince this laſt action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why, my skinne hangs about me like an old Ladies looſe gowne.

6. To deprive of.
   • a. 1634 (date written), George Herbert, “The Church Porch”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of George Herbert. […] (The Fuller Worthies’ Library), volume I (Verse), London: […] [Robson and Sons] for private circulation, published 1874, →OCLC, page 20:

     When baseness is exalted, do not bate / The place its honour for the person's sake; […]

7. To lessen by retrenching, deducting, or reducing; to abate; to beat down; to lower.
   • 1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1692, →OCLC, page 113:

     [W]hen the Landholder's Rent falls, he muſt either bate the Labourer's Wages, or not imploy, or not pay him; which either way makes him feel the want of Money.

8. To allow by way of abatement or deduction.
   • 1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Vpon His Penitentiall Meditations and Vowes at Holmby”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, pages 202–203:

     Theſe are the conditions of his treating with God, to whom he bates nothing or what he ſtood upon with the Parlament: as if Commiſſions of Array could deale with him alſo.

• with bated breath

• Robert Hunter, Charles Morris, editors (1897), Universal Dictionary of the English Language, volume 1, page 459

• Noun: From the verb, or directly from the noun debate.
• Verb: From Middle English bate (“contention”), from Old French batre (French battre), from Latin battere.

bate (uncountable)

1. Strife; contention.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 84:

     […] and weares his Boot very ſmooth, like vnto the Signe of the Legge; and breedes no bate with telling of diſcreete stories:

   • 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

     So the strife redoubled and the weapons together clashed and ceased not bate and debate and naught was to be seen but blood flowing and necks bowing; […]

   • 1911, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The New Machiavelli, London: John Lane; The Bodley Head […], →OCLC:

     The other merely needs jealousy and bate, of which there are great and easily accessible reservoirs in every human heart.

bate (third-person singular simple present bates, present participle bating, simple past and past participle bated)

1. (intransitive) To contend or strive with blows or arguments.
2. (intransitive, falconry) Of a falcon: To flap the wings vigorously; to bait.
   • 1486, Juliana Berners, Book of Saint Albans:

     The fiꝛſt is holde faſt at all timys, and ſpecially whan ſhe batith. It is calde batyng, for ſhe batith with hiꝛ ſelfe moſt oftyn cauſeles[.]

   • 1600, Francis Bacon, letter to Queen Elizabeth, upon the sending of a new-year's gift:

     I am like a hawk , that bates , when I see occasion of service , but cannot fly because I am tied to another's fist

• (to contend or strive with blows or arguments): bait.

Borrowed from Swedish beta (“maceration, tanning”).

bate (plural bates)

1. An alkaline lye which neutralizes the effect of the previous application of lime, and makes hides supple in the process of tanning.
   • 1888, Popular Science, volume 34, number 10, page 287:

     The process of unliming hides and skins in tanning has been a slow and disgusting one, consisting in soaking the skins in a bath of manure in water, called bate.

2. A vat which contains this liquid.

bate (third-person singular simple present bates, present participle bating, simple past and past participle bated)

1. (transitive) To soak leather so as to remove chemicals used in tanning; to steep in bate.

• Robert Hunter, Charles Morris, editors (1897), Universal Dictionary of the English Language, volume 1, page 459

Formed by analogy with eat → ate or other Class 5 strong verbs (compare gave, obsolete spake, etc.), with which it shares an analogous past participle (eaten → beaten).

bate

1. (obsolete or nonstandard) simple past of beat; = beat.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 13:

     Fitzpatrick, now perceiving […] that he had made a very unfortunate mistake, began to ask many pardons of the lady; and then, turning to Jones, he said, “I would have you take notice I do not ask your pardon, for you have bate me; for which I am resolved to have your blood in the morning.”

   • 2008 October 20, Lee Aronsohn, David Goetsch, Steven Molaro, Bill Prady, “The Euclid Alternative”, in The Big Bang Theory, season 2, episode 5, Chuck Lorre Productions, via Warner Bros. Television and CBS:

     Leonard: Penny’s taking you to the DMV; I’m going to bed.
     Sheldon: Why Penny?
     Leonard: Because rock bate scissors. Goodnight.

bate (third-person singular simple present bates, present participle bating, simple past and past participle bated)

1. (intransitive, slang) Clipping of masturbate.

• Beta, Teba, abet, beat, beta

bate m (plural bates)

1. bat (club)

• boté / baté / badé

bate

1. male-bodied person who dresses and lives as a woman

• two-spirit
• bacheé, bía

• Audio:

  (file)

bate

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of baten

bate

1. (archaic) dative singular of baat

• beat

Cognate with English beat (“patrolled route”).

bate

1. direction, course, track
   • A NORTH-COUNTY DUBLIN CLOSSARY:

     What bate are you on now = where are you going and why ? The dog is on some bate = is finding or following a scent.

• J. J. Hogan and Patrick C. O'Neill (1947) Béaloideas Iml. 17, Uimh 1/2, An Cumann Le Béaloideas Eireann/Folklore of lreland Society, page 264

bate

1. inflection of bater:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• bati

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

bate

1. (follows dative case -na) more than

   angna bate dal·a

   bigger than me

Gikyode bangadɛ, Chumburung bɔŋko̱rɔŋ.

bate (plural abate)

1. civet

   Synonym: jaba

• IPA^(key): /ba˥.te˧/

bate

1. swelling

• bakungte

• K. E. Herr (2011) The phonological interpretation of minor syllables, applied to Lemi Chin‎^[1], Payap University, page 74

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *pa. Cognate with Serrano bate.

bāte

1. water

• Kroeber, Shoshonean Dialects of California, in University of California Publications: American archaeology and ethnology, volume 4, page 81

bate

1. vocative singular of batus

bate

1. gravestone

bate

1. Alternative form of bot (“boat”)

bate

1. Alternative form of baten (“to beat”)

bate

1. Alternative form of baten (“to abate”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑː.te/

bāte

1. inflection of bāt:
   1. dative/genitive singular
   2. nominative plural
   3. accusative singular/plural

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -at͡ʃi, (Portugal) -atɨ
• Hyphenation: ba‧te

bate

1. inflection of bater:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Inherited from Latin battere, from earlier battuere. Compare Aromanian bat. First attested in the 16th century.

• IPA^(key): /ˈba.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: ba‧te

a bate (third-person singular present bate, past participle bătut) 3rd conj.

1. (transitive) to beat (repeatedly hit for various purposes)

   a bate la ușă ― to knock on the door

   a bate untul ― to churn butter

   a bate la tălpi ― to administer a foot whipping

   a bate la mașină ― to type on a typewriter

2. (transitive or reciprocal) to beat (give a beating)
3. (transitive, colloquial) to defeat

   Synonyms: învinge, înfrânge

4. (intransitive, of the heart) to beat
5. (transitive, of the wind) to blow
6. (transitive, of the sun) to shine

• (give a beating): cafti (slang), mardi (slang), cotonogi (slang)

• bate in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

bate (Cyrillic spelling бате)

1. vocative singular of bat

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *pa.

bāte

1. water

• Kroeber, Shoshonean Dialects of California, in University of California Publications: American archaeology and ethnology, volume 4, page 81

• IPA^(key): /ˈbate/ [ˈba.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: ba‧te

Borrowed from English bat.

bate m (plural bates)

1. (sports) bat

bate m (plural bates)

1. (Honduras, slang) reefer, joint (a marijuana cigarette)

   Synonyms: canuto, (Honduras) carruco, (Honduras) leño, porro, (Chile) pito

bate

1. inflection of batir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “bate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

From Old French batre, from Late Latin battō, battere, alternative form of Latin battuō, battuere (“beat, pound; fight”).

• IPA^(key): /bat/

bate

1. (pronominal) to fight