blate

English - English

Definition of blate in English English dictionary

Dull, stupid

Bashful, sheepish

Spiritless, timid, bashful

disposed to avoid notice; "they considered themselves a tough outfit and weren't bashful about letting anybody know it"; (`blate' is a Scottish term for bashful)

cry plaintively; "The lambs were bleating"

Etymology

[ 'blAt ] (adjective.) 1535. From Scots blate (“timid, sheepish”), from Northern Middle English *blate, *blait (“pale, ghastly, terrified”), from Old English blāt (“pale, livid, ghastly”), from Proto-Germanic *blaitaz (“pale, discoloured”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhlAid- (“pale, pallid”). Cognate with German blassen (“to make pale”), bleich (“pale, pallid”). More at bleak, bleach.