English

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.
   • Dryden

     Abate thy speed, and I will bate of mine.

2. (transitive) To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation
3. (transitive, sometimes figuratively) To cut off, remove, take away.
   • c. 1658, Dr. Henry More, Government of the Tongue:

     He will not bate an ace of absolute certainty.

   • Holland

     About autumn bate the earth from about the roots of olives, and lay them bare.

4. (archaic, transitive) To leave out, except, bar.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2, scene 1:

     (Sebastian) "Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido."

   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     Bate me the king, and, be he flesh and blood, / He lies that says it.

5. To waste away.
   • 1597, The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, by Shakespeare, act 3, scene 3:

     (Falstaff) "Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle?"

6. To deprive of.
   • Herbert

     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.
   • John Locke

     He must either bate the labourer's wages, or not employ or not pay him.

8. To allow by way of abatement or deduction.
   • South

     to whom he bates nothing or what he stood upon with the parliament

Translations

References

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

Etymology 2

• Noun: From the verb, or directly from the noun debate.
• Verb: From Anglo-Saxon = contention. From Old French batre (French battre). From Late Latin batere.

Noun

bate ‎(uncountable)

1. Strife; contention.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 2:

     ... and wears his boots very smooth, like unto the sign of the leg, and breeds no bate with telling of discreet stories;

   • 1888, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night (Arabian Nights)

     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.G. Wells, The New Machiavelli:

     The other merely needs jealousy and bate, of which there are great and easily accessible reservoirs in every human heart.

Translations

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Translations

See also

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

Etymology 3

Borrowing 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

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

References

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

Etymology 4

Formed by analogy with eat → ate, with which it shares an analogous past participle (eaten → beaten).

Verb

bate

1. (nonstandard) simple past tense of beat; = beat.
   • 2008 October 20th, Lee Aronsohn, David Goetsch, Steven Molaro, and Bill Prady, The Big Bang Theory (Chuck Lorre Productions, Warner Bros. Television; CBS), season 2, episode 5: “The Euclid Alternative”

     Leonard: Penny’s taking you to the DMV; I’m going to bed.
     Sheldon: Why Penny?
     Leonard: Because rock bate scissors. Goodnight.

Translations

Etymology 5

Shortening of ****.

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, slang) To ****.

Anagrams

• abet, beat, beta, 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

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

bate

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of baten

Noun

bate

1. (archaic) Dative singular form of baat

Anagrams

• beat

Kitanemuk

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

Portuguese

Verb

bate

1. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present indicative of bater
2. Second-person singular (tu) affirmative imperative of bater

Romanian

Etymology

From Late Latin battere, variant of Latin battuere, present active infinitive of battuō ‎(“beat”).

Verb

a bate ‎(third-person singular present bate, past participle bătut) 3rd conj.

1. to beat
2. to defeat
3. to strike, hit, punch

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (defeat): învinge, înfrânge
• (hit): lovi

Derived terms

• batere
• bătut
• bătălie

Related terms

• abate
• bătaie
• combate
• străbate
• zbate

Serrano

Noun

bāte

1. water

References

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

Spanish

Etymology 1

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

• (joint): canuto m, carruco m (Honduras), leño m (Honduras), porro m, pito m (Chile)

Etymology 3

Verb

bate

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of batir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of batir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of batir.

Walloon

Etymology

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

Verb

bate

1. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to fight