bate

verb

1. (transitive)To reduce the force of something; to abate.

   “Ah, left ſome Thorn ſhoul'd pierce thy tender Foot, / Or thou ſhoul'dſt fall in flying my purſuit! / To ſharp uneven Ways thy ſteps decline; / Abate thy Speed, and I will bate of mine.”

2. (transitive)To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation

   “[…] and to his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story of the stroke with the willow wand.”

3. (figuratively, sometimes, transitive)To cut off, remove, take away.

   “Also about Autumne bate the earth from about the roots of Olives, and lay them bare, but in stead thereof put good mucke thereto.”

   “Nay, if he be of a proud humour, […] he will not Bate an Ace of abſolute certainty, but however doubtful or improbable the thing is, coming f[r]om him it muſt go for an indiſputable truth.”

4. (archaic, transitive)To leave out, except, bar.

   “Bate the King, and be he fleſh and blood, / He lyes that ſaies it, thy mother at fifteen / Was black and ſinful to her.”

   “Bate (I beſeech you) widdow Dido.”

5. To waste away.

   “Bardoll, am I not falne away vilely ſince this laſt action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why, my skinne hangs about me like an old Ladies looſe gowne.”

6. To deprive of.

   “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.

   “[W]hen the Landholder's Rent falls, he muſt either bate the Labourer's Wages, or not imploy, or not pay him; which either way makes him feel the want of Money.”

   “The shopkeeper is very good-natured; he will show you everything he has, and does not seem to mind if you buy nothing. He bates a little, but not so much as the Klings, who almost always ask twice what they are willing to take.”

8. To allow by way of abatement or deduction.

   “Theſe are the conditions of his treating with God, to whom he bates nothing or what he ſtood upon with the Parlament: as if Commiſſions of Array could deale with him alſo.”

9. (intransitive)To contend or strive with blows or arguments.
10. (intransitive)Of a falcon: to flap the wings vigorously; to bait.

    “The fiꝛſt is holde faſt at all timys, and ſpecially whan ſhe batith. It is calde batyng, for ſhe batith with hiꝛ ſelfe moſt oftyn cauſeles[.]”

    “I am like a hawk , that bates , when I see occasion of service , but cannot fly because I am tied to another's fist”

11. (transitive)To soak leather so as to remove chemicals used in tanning; to steep in bate.
12. (form-of, nonstandard, obsolete, past)simple past of beat; = beat.

    “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.””

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

13. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, intransitive, slang)Clipping of masturbate.

noun

1. (uncountable)Strife; contention.

   “[…] and weares his Boot very ſmooth, like vnto the Signe of the Legge; and breedes no bate with telling of diſcreete stories:”

   “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; […]”

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

2. An alkaline lye which neutralizes the effect of the previous application of lime, and makes hides supple in the process of tanning.

   “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.”

3. A vat which contains this liquid.
4. (Ireland, uncountable)direction, course, track

   “What bate are you on now = where are you going and why ? The dog is on some bate = is finding or following a scent.”

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname transferred from the given name.
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A diminutive of the male given name Bartholomew.
3. (countable, uncountable)A town in Comoé province, Burkina Faso.
4. (countable, uncountable)A village in Nova Gorica municipality, Slovenia.