Clepe
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A cry; an appeal; a call. dialectal
"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."
- 1 To give a call; cry out; appeal. archaic, dialectal, intransitive
- 2 To call; call upon; cry out to. archaic, dialectal, transitive
- 3 To call to oneself; invite; summon. archaic, dialectal, transitive
- 4 To call; call by the name of; name. archaic, dialectal, transitive
"She clepes him king of graues, & graue for kings, / Imperious ſupreme of all mortall things."
- 5 To tell lies about; inform against (someone). dialectal, intransitive, often
"You tried to mentor someone, teach them the basics of the trade, and they ran off to clype on you."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To be loquacious; tattle; gossip. dialectal, intransitive
- 7 To report; relate; tell. dialectal, transitive
Example
More examples"She clepes him king of graues, & graue for kings, / Imperious ſupreme of all mortall things."
Etymology
From 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”).