baa
verb (used without object)
to make the sound of a sheep; bleat.
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baa
1 American
[ba, bah]
/ bæ, bɑ /
verb (used without object)
-
baas,
present (3rd person singular)
-
baaed,
past participle, past
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baaing
present participle
noun
-
baas
plural
B.A.A.
2
American
abbreviation
baa
1
British
/ bɑː /
verb
noun
BAA
2
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
baasimple
-
baassimple
-
have baaedperfect
-
has baaedperfect
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am baaingprogressive
-
are baaingprogressive
-
is baaingprogressive
-
have been baaingperfect progressive
-
has been baaingperfect progressive
Past
-
baaedsimple
-
had baaedperfect
-
was baaingprogressive
-
were baaingprogressive
-
had been baaingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of baa
First recorded in 1580–90; imitative
Explanation
Use the word baa to describe the sound a sheep makes. A lamb might baa for its mother if it finds itself alone. Every language has words that mimic the cries and noises animals make, and in English sheep and goats baa. In Dutch, sheep say bè bè, and in Japanese they say meh meh. The imitative word baa, first recorded in the late 1500s, can be either a noun or a verb, depending how you use it. Baa makes a famous appearance in the well-known children's song "Baa baa Black Sheep."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
All baa myself: Is this Britain's loneliest sheep?
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2023
Bleat, baa, and ragdoll your way through the world getting up to all kinds of goat-flavored shenanigans.
From The Verge ● Aug. 23, 2022
He’s all baa and no humbug in the new animated adventure “Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2021
The success of Rams changed everything for him, says Hákonarson, who managed to get the audience for its Cannes premiere to baa like sheep en masse.
From The Guardian ● May 22, 2020
Louisa laughed and teased and goaded like a goblin; and what was worse, she told the other children, and incited them to "baa" quietly whenever Tristran walked past.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
“Like so many around the world, we are horrified and outraged by what we have seen and learned from the reporting in Ukraine,” B.A.A. president and CEO Tom Grilk said in a statement.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2022
"The B.A.A. is tremendously saddened to learn of the passing of Boston Marathon icon Dick Hoyt," the organization said in a statement.
From Fox News ● Mar. 18, 2021
“The B.A.A. is tremendously saddened to learn of the passing of Boston Marathon icon Dick Hoyt,” the organization said in a statement.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2021
Over the past 30 years, B.A.A. and John Hancock’s programs have raised more than $372 million for community-based organizations.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 9, 2019
Before the 1949-50 season, the B.A.A. and the N.B.L. merged to form the N.B.A.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2016
This spring, the BAA said it would add minutes to times of runners who use downhill courses to qualify.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2025
A UK-wide survey from 2024, distributed by the BAA and ENT UK, the professional body representing ear, nose and throat surgery, found that only 4% of audiologists consider themselves to be well-informed on APD.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2025
On Tuesday, she agreed to donate the hex wrench she used to tighten it to the BAA for its race museum.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 18, 2023
After the BAA updated its policy, English is out the $15 insurance fee and will have to submit the refunded $235 entry fee to run next year, but she won’t have to qualify again.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2023
The BAA had said in October that it would annul Kipyokei’s result pending completion of the AIU investigation and sanction announcement.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
In Chicago this week, amid bellows, oinks, neighs and baas, with the skirl of a bagpipe band, exuberant farmers gathered for the 42nd International Livestock Exposition.
From Time Magazine Archive
Said a rival: "Lady Caroline baas like a little sheep."
From Time Magazine Archive
In their tongue B.A.A.S. would spell revolting baas, "master," "boss."
From Time Magazine Archive
No one was calling me baas and master any longer.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
He added, “Ask the baas if he’s got any old clothes he wants to get rid of. I badly need underwear and socks.”
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
That followed a French operetta duet that had Felicity Lott making turkey noises while Maltman baaed like a sheep.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 30, 2012
If Dolly the cloned sheep had been able to talk, would she have chased those Scottish scientists into their lab and baaed for explanations?
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2012
While he ate the meat, Button 44helped himself to fried chicken and Billy came over and baaed to him not to be so greedy but to throw him down some lettuce.
From Billy Whiskers' Adventures by Paul Hawthorne
The percentage of monetary increase to be provided for that year should therefore be baaed on the increased number.
From Money: Speech of Hon. John P. Jones, of Nevada, On the Free Coinage of Silver; in the United States Senate, May 12 and 13, 1890 by John P. (John Percival) Jones
His views are vast, but they are baaed on good sense, and he is most determinedly serious when he sets to work.
From A Publisher and His Friends Memoir and Correspondence of John Murray; with an Account of the Origin and Progress of the House, 1768-1843 by Samuel Smiles
As he passionately delivers the final choruses, two actors in sheep hats pop up and sing along with him, baaing the titular lyrics to big audience laughs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2021
At the Joneslan Farm, on a dirt road with views of mountains, the goats erupt into baaing and crowd the fences inside the barn to inspect anyone who walks in as they munch on hay.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
On the lawn in front of Isabella Rossellini’s house, an elegant barn-to-home conversion in a chicly rural corner of Long Island, a few of them stood around baaing, waiting for their person to emerge.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2020
Tourists may soon see baaing sheep at the Eiffel Tower.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2013
We would hear their caravans approaching our neighborhood, the mewling of their sheep, the baaing of their goats, the jingle of bells around their camels’ necks.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
