clepe

English

Alternative forms

• clip
• clep, clipe, claip, clype (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English clepen, clepien, from Old English cleopian, clipian (“to speak, cry out, call, summon, invoke, cry to, implore”), from Proto-Germanic *klipōnan (“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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kliːp/

Verb

clepe (third-person singular simple present clepes, present participle cleping, simple past cleped, clepen or clept, past participle cleped, clept, clepen or yclept)

1. (intransitive, archaic or dialectal) To give a call; cry out; appeal.
2. (transitive, archaic or dialectal) To call; call upon; cry out to.
3. (transitive, archaic or dialectal) To call to one's self; invite; summon.
4. (transitive, archaic or dialectal) To call; call by the name of; name.
   • 1385: Geoffery Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde Book 5, lines 760-745,

     For that that som men blamen ever yit,
     Lo, other maner folk commenden it.
     And as for me, for al swich variaunce,
     Felicitee clepe I my suffisaunce.

   • 1593: Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis

     She clepes him king of graves, and grave for kings,
     Imperious supreme of all mortal things.

   • 1922: James Joyce, Ulysses

     And there came against the place as they stood a young learning knight yclept Dixon.

   • 2001: Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil

     World traveling sorcerer supreme Charles Carter, yclept Carter the Mysterious, has made a startling discovery that makes the news from Europe seem mild indeed.

5. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) (often with on) To tell lies about; inform against (someone).
6. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To be loquacious; tattle; gossip.
7. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal) To report; relate; tell.

Usage notes

The verb is obsolete, except in dialects or when used in the past participle yclept which is sometimes used as a deliberate archaism, or as an idiomatic set phrase: aptly yclept.

Noun

clepe (plural clepes)

1. (Now chiefly dialectal) A cry; an appeal; a call.

   with clepes and cries

---

Latin

Verb

clepe

1. second-person singular present active imperative of clepō