bate

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bate"

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beɪt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Homophone: bait

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English baten (“to abate”), an apheretic form of abaten, from Old French abatre (“to knock down”).

Verb

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.

Derived terms

• bate an ace
• with bated breath

Translations

to reduce the force of something

• Bulgarian: намалявам (bg) (namaljavam), отслабвам (bg) (otslabvam), притъпявам (bg) (pritǎpjavam)
• Czech: snížit (cs) pf, zmírnit pf, zmenšit (cs) pf
• Finnish: heikentää (fi), hillitä (fi)
• Russian: убавля́ть (ru) n (ubavljátʹ), уменьша́ть (ru) n (umenʹšátʹ)

to restrain

• Finnish: pidättää (fi)

to cut off, remove, take away

• Finnish: poistaa (fi), ottaa pois

archaic: to leave out, except, bar

• Finnish: jättää pois

References

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

Etymology 2

• 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.

Noun

bate (uncountable)

1. Strife; contention.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, 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.

Derived terms

• bateful
• bateless
• breedbate
• makebate

Translations

strife, contention

• Finnish: kiista (fi)

Verb

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

Translations

to contend, strive with blows or arguments

• Finnish: kiistellä (fi), väitellä (fi) (arguments)

in falconry of a falcon: to flap the wings vigorously

• Finnish: räpytellä (fi)

See also

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

Etymology 3

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

Noun

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.

Translations

an alkaline lye

• Finnish: peittausaine (fi)

a vat which contains this liquid

• Finnish: sammio (fi)

Verb

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.

Translations

to soak leather

• Czech: vydělávat (kůži) impf, mořit (cs) impf, máčet impf
• Finnish: peitata (fi)
• Polish: bejcować (pl) impf, zabejcować pf

References

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

Etymology 4

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).

Verb

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.

Translations

simple past of beat — see beat

Etymology 5

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, slang) Clipping of masturbate.

Translations

masturbate — see masturbate

Etymology 6

Variant of beat (“rhythm”).

Noun

bate (uncountable)

1. (Ireland) 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.

References

• J. J. Hogan and Patrick C. O'Neill (1947), “A NORTH-COUNTY DUBLIN GLOSSARY”, in Béaloideas‎^[1], volume 17, number 1/2, An Cumann Le Béaloideas Eireann/Folklore of lreland Society, page 264

Anagrams

• Beta, Teba, abet, beat, beta

Asturian

Noun

bate m (plural bates)

1. bat (club)

Crow

Alternative forms

• boté, baté, badé

Noun

bate

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

See also

• two-spirit
• bacheé, bía

References

References

• Integration of Crow Indian Culture, in Cultural Anthropology, page 11: The aggressive vigor and virility of man, in the Crow view, stood in profound opposition to the passivity and weakness of woman. Young men who failed the test of the war raid had "nothing to say or do in any public business whatever" but had to endure biting obscenities which linked their personalities to the flaccid qualities of woman. The bate, male transvestites, were no exception. Bate were "crazy" people with whom one could have some fun, a sexual escapade perhaps, and they might be married because they excelled women in butchering, tanning, and other domestic tasks. But they never were honored, and when a bate raised a gun against the enemy, the Crow remembered it as a signal event.
• Sabine Lang, Men as Women, Women as Men →ISBN, 2010):
   Page 117: The attempt of an Indian agent on the Crow Reservation around the turn of the century to induce Osh-Tisch, one of the three surviving bate, to put on men's clothing was unsuccessful (Williams 1986b:179). The other Crows protested, "saying it was against his ^[sic] nature".
   Page 187: Apart from enduring relationships, intercourse with women has sometimes been represented as being possible for [...] the Crow bate.
• Walter L. Williams, The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture:

  Joe Medicine Crow, an elder in the Baptist church on the Montana reservation of the Crows, is also keeper of the tribal history among traditionalists. He [....] explained the incident with the BIA agents: "One agent in the late 1890s was named Briskow [...] He tried to interfere with Osh-Tisch, who was the most respected bade. The agent incarcerated the bades, cut off their hair, made them wear men's clothing. He forced the to do manual labor, planting these trees that you see here on the BIA grounds. The people were so upset with this that Chief Pretty Eagle came into Crow Agency, and told Briskow to leave the reservation. It was a tragedy, trying to change them. Briskow was crazy." Considering how little power Indians had on their reservations at the beginning of the century, the strength of the Crows' protest, forcing the agent to resign, is remarkable.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

bate

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

Noun

bate

1. (archaic) dative singular of baat

Anagrams

• beat

Galician

Verb

bate

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

Garo

Alternative forms

• bati

Etymology

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

Postposition

bate

1. (follows dative case -na) more than

   angna bate dal·a

   bigger than me

Gonja

Etymology

Gikyode bangadɛ, Chumburung bɔŋko̱rɔŋ.

Noun

bate (plural abate)

1. civet

   Synonym: jaba

Khumi Chin

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba˥.te˧/

Noun

bate

1. swelling

Derived terms

• bakungte

References

• K. E. Herr (2011), The phonological interpretation of minor syllables, applied to Lemi Chin‎^[2], Payap University, page 74

Kitanemuk

Etymology

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

Noun

bāte

1. water

References

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

Latin

Noun

bate

1. vocative singular of batus

Lindu

Noun

bate

1. gravestone

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

bate

1. alternative form of bot (“boat”)

Etymology 2

Verb

bate

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

Etymology 3

Verb

bate

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

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑː.te/

Noun

bāte

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

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈba.t͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈba.t͡ʃi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈba.te/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈba.tɨ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

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

Verb

bate

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

Romanian

Alternative forms

• бате (bate) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Etymology

Inherited from Latin battere, from earlier battuere. Compare Aromanian bat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈba.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: ba‧te

Verb

a bate (third-person singular present bate, past participle bătut, third-person subjunctive bată) 3rd conjugation

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 mașină ― to type on a typewriter

2. (transitive) to beat (give a beating)
3. (reciprocal) to have a fight
4. (transitive, informal) to defeat

   Synonyms: învinge, înfrânge

5. (intransitive, of the heart) to beat
6. (transitive, of the wind) to blow
7. (transitive, of the sun) to shine
8. (transitive, of shoes) to wring (cause discomfort)
9. (transitive) to mint (a coin)

Conjugation

    conjugation of bate (third conjugation, past participle in -ut)

infinitive			a bate
gerund			bătând
past participle			bătut
number		singular			plural
person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	bat	bați	bate	batem	bateți	bat
	imperfect	băteam	băteai	bătea	băteam	băteați	băteau
	simple perfect	bătui	bătuși	bătu	băturăm	băturăți	bătură
	pluperfect	bătusem	bătuseși	bătuse	bătuserăm	bătuserăți	bătuseră
subjunctive		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	să bat	să bați	să bată	să batem	să bateți	să bată
imperative		—	tu	—	—	voi	—
	affirmative		bate			bateți
	negative		nu bate			nu bateți

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• bate gândul
• bate în retragere
• bate la cap
• bate la tălpi
• bate măr
• bate monedă
• bate palma
• bate toba
• batere
• bătător
• bătătură
• bătut
• bătut în cap
• își bate joc
• se bate ca chiorii
• se bate cu pumnii în piept

Related terms

• abate
• bătaie
• bătălie
• combate
• străbate
• zbate

Further reading

• “bate”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

bate (Cyrillic spelling бате)

1. vocative singular of bat

Serrano

Etymology

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *pa.

Noun

bāte

1. water

References

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

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English bat.

Noun

bate m (plural bates)

1. (sports) bat

Etymology 2

Noun

bate m (plural bates)

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

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

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

bate

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

Further reading

• “bate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• “bate”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

Walloon

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bat/

Verb

bate

1. (pronominal) to fight