English
bate
see also: Bate
Pronunciation Verb

bate (bates, present participle bating; past and past participle bated)

  1. (transitive) To reduce the force of something; to abate.
    • 1717, John Dryden, Metamorphoses
      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.
    • circa 1658 Dr. Henry More, Government of the Tongue:
      He will not bate an ace of absolute certainty.
    • 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."
    • c. 1609 The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, act 1, scene 1:
      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.
    • 1633 (first published) George Herbert, The Church Porch
      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 the Raising the Value of Money
      when the landholder's rent falls, he must either bate the labourer's wages , or not employ, or not pay him
  8. To allow by way of abatement or deduction.
    • to whom he bates nothing or what he stood upon with the parliament
Translations
  • Russian: убавля́ть
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.
Verb

bate (bates, present participle bating; 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.
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.
Verb

bate (bates, present participle bating; past and past participle bated)

  1. (transitive) To soak leather so as to remove chemicals used in tanning; to steep in bate.
Verb
  1. (obsolete or nonstandard) simple past tense of beat; = beat.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify ), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292 ↗:
      |||tr=|brackets=|subst=|lit=|nocat=1|footer=}}|}}
      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 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.
Verb

bate (bates, present participle bating; past and past participle bated)

  1. (intransitive, slang) To masturbate.
    I could go out and take a walk in the park, but I'd rather stay home and bate all day.
Bate
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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