clepe

verb

1. (archaic, dialectal, intransitive)To give a call; cry out; appeal.
2. (archaic, dialectal, transitive)To call; call upon; cry out to.
3. (archaic, dialectal, transitive)To call to oneself; invite; summon.
4. (archaic, dialectal, transitive)To call; call by the name of; name.

   “She clepes him king of graues, & graue for kings, / Imperious ſupreme of all mortall things.”

   “See Borneo's sea-girt shore where ever flow / the perfumed liquor's thick and curded gouts, / the tears of forest-trees men "Camphor" clepe, / wherefore that Island crop of Fame shall reap.”

   “Boyden McNair, with his right elbow on his knee and his bent head resting on the hand which covered his eyes, sat near Wolfe's desk in the dunce's chair, yclept that by me on the day that District Attorney Anderson of Westchester sat in it while Wolfe made a dunce of him.”

5. (dialectal, intransitive, often)To tell lies about; inform against (someone).

   “You tried to mentor someone, teach them the basics of the trade, and they ran off to clype on you.”

6. (dialectal, intransitive)To be loquacious; tattle; gossip.
7. (dialectal, transitive)To report; relate; tell.

noun

1. (dialectal)A cry; an appeal; a call.

   “So bold was I to show my voice that night / With clepes, and cries, to fill the street throughout / With Creuse’ name in sorrow, with vain tears ; / And often-sithes the same for to repeat.”