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Clepe
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."
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- 6 To be loquacious; tattle; gossip. dialectal, intransitive
- 7 To report; relate; tell. dialectal, transitive
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”).
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”).
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