bleat
verbEtymology From Middle English bleten, from Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”), from Proto-West Germanic *blātijan, from Proto-Germanic *blētijaną (“to bleat”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to howl, cry, bleat”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to make a loud noise”). Cognate with Scots blete, bleit, West Frisian bâlte, blaaien, blêtsje (“to bleat”), Dutch blaten (“to bleat”), Low German bleten (“to bleat”), German blaßen, blässen (“to bleat”).
1
Onomatopoeic Of a sheep, goat, or calf: to make its characteristic cry; of a human, to mimic this sound.
- Near-synonym: baa (sheep and goat)
- In the year 1633, the Bridget Nuns, near Xanthus, behaved like sheep, jumping about and bleating continuously.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 99:
2
Derogatory, Informal Of a person, to complain.
- Near-synonyms: kvetch, moan, whinge, whine, holler
- The last thing we need is to hear them bleating to us about organizational problems.
3
Derogatory, Informal Of a person, to say things of little importance to the listener.
- Near-synonyms: drone on, go on
- She came skipping to me just now, clapping her little hands and bleating about how very, very happy she was, dear Mrs Travers. The silly young geezer. I nearly conked her one with my trowel.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
2 more examples
- I can't have, for instance, Heracles come bleating to me at some future date, asking please can he have his bow back, and getting all stroppy when I refuse to tell him where it is.2016, James Lovegrove, Age of Heroes, Solaris, →ISBN:
- Am I the odd one out for thinking this is quite alarming? That I should find it weird to see a 41-year-old influencer bleating about her “bleph”.2025 October 11, Jo Ellison, “The forever 35 face of fashion”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23: