/kliːp/
OriginFrom Middle English clepen, clepien, from Old English cleopian, clipian (“to speak, cry out, call, summon, invoke, cry to, implore”), from Proto-Germanic *klipōną (“to ring, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *gal- (“to sound”). Cognate with Old Frisian klippa, kleppa (“to ring”), Dutch kleppen (“to toll, chatter”), Middle Low German kleppen (“to strike, sound”), Middle Low German kleperen (“to rattle”).
- archaic, dialectal, intransitiveTo give a call; cry out; appeal.
- archaic, dialectal, transitiveTo call; call upon; cry out to.
- archaic, dialectal, transitiveTo call to oneself; invite; summon.
- archaic, dialectal, transitiveTo call; call by the name of; name.
“She clepes him king of graues, & graue for kings, / Imperious ſupreme of all mortall things.”
“See Borneo's sea-girt shore where ever flow / the perfumed liquor's thick and curded gouts, / the tears of forest-trees men "Camphor" clepe, / wherefore that Island crop of Fame shall reap.”
“Boyden McNair, with his right elbow on his knee and his bent head resting on the hand which covered his eyes, sat near Wolfe's desk in the dunce's chair, yclept that by me on the day that District Att”
- dialectal, intransitive, oftenTo tell lies about; inform against (someone).
“You tried to mentor someone, teach them the basics of the trade, and they ran off to clype on you.”
- dialectal, intransitiveTo be loquacious; tattle; gossip.
- dialectal, transitiveTo report; relate; tell.
- dialectalA cry; an appeal; a call.
“So bold was I to show my voice that night / With clepes, and cries, to fill the street throughout / With Creuse’ name in sorrow, with vain tears ; / And often-sithes the same for to repeat.”
Formsclepes(present, singular, third-person) · cleping(participle, present) · cleped(past) · clept(past) · cleped(participle, past) · clept(participle, past) · yclept(participle, past) · cleep(alternative) · clip(alternative) · clep(alternative) · claip(alternative) · clype(alternative) · clepes(plural)