bleat

American  

[bleet] / blit /

verb (used without object)

1. to utter the cry of a sheep, goat, or calf or a sound resembling such a cry.

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verb (used with object)

1. to give forth with or as if with a bleat.

   He bleated his objections in a helpless rage.

2. to babble; prate.

noun

1. the cry of a sheep, goat, or calf.

2. any similar sound.

   the bleat of distant horns.

3. foolish, complaining talk; babble.

   I listened to their inane bleat all evening.

bleat British  

/ bliːt /

verb

1. (intr) (of a sheep, goat, or calf) to utter its characteristic plaintive cry

2. (intr) to speak with any similar sound

3. to whine; whimper

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noun

1. the characteristic cry of sheep, goats, and young calves

2. any sound similar to this

3. a weak complaint or whine

Other Word Forms

• bleater
  noun
• bleating
  noun
• bleatingly
  adverb
• outbleat
  verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of bleat

before 1000; Middle English bleten, Old English blǣtan; cognate with Dutch blaten, Old High German blāzen; akin to Latin flēre to weep

Explanation

The sound a lamb or calf makes is a bleat. If you hear tiny bleats coming from your barn, you'll know the new baby goats were born at last. Many animals might bleat, though a bleat is a slightly weak, high-pitched sound, which is why it's typically made by young animals. When baby animals bleat, their mothers naturally go to them to feed or comfort them. You might also describe a human's cry or whine as a bleat, if it's particularly pitiful. The word comes from a Germanic root, and it's imitative of the sound itself.

Example Sentences

Bleat, baa, and ragdoll your way through the world getting up to all kinds of goat-flavored shenanigans.

From The Verge • Aug. 23, 2022

Filmed on the Greek island of Tinos in 2020, "Bleat" explores the cycle of life and death centred on a local couple, played by Stone and French actor Damien Bonnard.

From Reuters • May 5, 2022

Bleat, bleat, bleat like O'Driscoll you do Clive Woodward.

From BBC • Oct. 23, 2015

For more than 15 years now, he�s been sponsored by Hang Loose, as well as Mormaii, Reef, and Bleat Surf Shop.

From Time Magazine Archive

But all the same, we saw revolution in it, the possibility of wholesale regeneration, the inauguration of a new era, when "sham" would be exposed, and "Bleat" silenced, and art grow "Human" once more.

From Nights Rome, Venice, in the Aesthetic Eighties; London, Paris, in the Fighting Nineties by Pennell, Elizabeth Robins