| 释义 |
▪ I. bleat, v.|bliːt|
Forms: 1 blǽtan, 3 Orm. blætenn, 4–5 blete, 6 Sc. blait, 6–7 bleate, (blate), 7 bleet, 7– bleat.
[Com. WGer.: OE. blǽtan = OHG., MHG. blâzen, mod.Du. blaten:—WGer. blâtan, of imitative origin: cf. mod.G. blöken; also OSlav. blejati to bleat, and see blea.]
1. intr. To cry, as a sheep, goat, or calf.
a1000Riddles (Gr.) xxv. 2 Ic..blǽte swá gát. c1000ælfric Gram. xxii. 129 Scép blǽt. c1200Ormin 1315 Itt [lamb] cann cnawenn swiþe wel Hiss moderr þær ȝho blæteþþ. a1300E.E. Psalter lxiv. 14 Schepe þat blete. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The scheip began to blait. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 68 We were as twyn'd Lambs, that did..bleat the one at th' other. 1735Somerville Chase iii. 30 The mournful Ewe Wanders perplex'd, and darkling bleats in vain. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede 60 Our friends the calves are bleating from the home croft.
b. trans. (with cognate object.) Also to bleat out: to give forth with a bleat.
1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) IV. 337 The tender Flocks their Pasture mourn, and bleat a sadder Moan. 1864Swinburne Atalanta 936 Let her..stretch her throat for a knife, Bleat out her spirit and die. 1871B. Taylor Faust i. v. (Chandos) 61 An old he-goat..Should his good-night in lustful gallop bleat her.
2. transf. Used contemptuously of the human voice.
a1563Becon Jewel of Joy Wks. (1844) 429 Nourishing many idle singing-men to bleat in their chapels. 1569E. Hake Newes Powles Churchy. F vj, Thus bleate the Popish Balamites. 1869Heavysege Saul 312 If she bleats now, Why, 'tis her nature, and the gift of women.
b. trans. To give mouth to, babble, prate. Cf. blate.
1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. vi. (1851) 165 You, who bleat what you know nothing of [Lat. qui ea blatis].
c. Used of sounds likened to the cry of a sheep.
1880Howells Undisc. Country viii. 123 Their bells were bleating everywhere.
▪ II. bleat, n.|bliːt|
Also 4 blet, 6 Sc. bleit, 8 blate.
[f. prec. vb.]
a. The cry of a sheep, goat, or calf.
[1382Wyclif Ps. lxxvii[i]. 70 Fro the aftir berende blet he toc hym [1388 fro bihynde scheep with lambren; Vulg. de post fœtantes accepit eum]. ]
1590Shakes. Much Ado v. iv. 51 A Calfe..Much like to you, for you haue iust his bleat. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 826 The Rivers, and their Banks, and Hills around, With Lowings, and with dying Bleats resound. 1795Southey Occas. Pieces iii, His barkings loud and quick Amid their tremulous bleat. 1842Tennyson Ode to Memory v, The live-long bleat Of the thick-fleeced sheep.
b. transf. Any similar cry; spec. that of a snipe.
1863Kingsley Water-Bab. 131 The owl's hoot and the snipe's bleat and the fox's bark.
c. A similar sound made by the human voice.
c1505Dunbar Flyting 204 Thay bickerit the with mony bae and bleit. 1799Month. Rev. XXIX. 142 The inarticulate vulgarity, the calf's blate of those speakers.
d. A (feeble) complaint. colloq.
1916‘Taffrail’ in Royal Mag. Dec. 99/2 ‘Got a bleat, 'ave yer?’ growled an unsympathetic Petty Officer. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway 107 He had heard nothing..in reply to his signal stating Mr. Honey's bleat.
▪ III. bleat(e
obs. form of blate Sc. |