bate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /beɪt/
rhymes: -eɪt
homophone: bait
Forms: form: bates
form: bating
form: bated
form: bated
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English baten (“to abate”), an aphetic form of abaten, from Old French abatre (“to knock down”).
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: To reduce the force of something; to abate.
examples: text: […] and to his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story of the stroke with the willow wand.
ref: 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:
glosses: To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation
examples: text: Also about Autumne bate the earth from about the roots of Olives, and lay them bare, but in stead thereof put good mucke thereto.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 1674, [Richard Allestree], “Of Positiveness”, in The Government of the Tongue. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Theater, →OCLC, page 197:
glosses: To cut off, remove, take away.
examples: text: Bate the King, and be he fleſh and blood, / He lyes that ſaies it, thy mother at fifteen / Was black and ſinful to her.
ref: 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:
text: Bate (I beſeech you) widdow Dido.
ref: 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:
glosses: To leave out, except, bar.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To waste away.
examples: text: When baseness is exalted, do not bate / The place its honour for the person's sake; […]
ref: 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:
glosses: To deprive of.
examples: text: [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.
ref: 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:
glosses: To lessen by retrenching, deducting, or reducing; to abate; to beat down; to lower.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Vpon His Penitentiall Meditations and Vowes at ’’Holmby’’”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, pages 202–203:
glosses: To allow by way of abatement or deduction.
Derived terms: with bated breath