First recorded in 1580–90; imitative
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."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
They will bleat and baa and maybe even butt heads.
From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2017
The goat can’t baa, Because his lips Are gripping the pipe — A funny sight for The chickens, Who stay clear.
From "Neighborhood Odes" by Gary Soto
“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
So, Grilk was asked, any chance the B.A.A. might decide they like the fall better and go for a permanent switch?
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 10, 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 Fox News ● Mar. 18, 2021
Over the past 33 years, the official B.A.A.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 10, 2018
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
“Women who are entered in a BAA race and want to expand their family will be able to do just that without giving up a chance to participate at a future BAA event.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2023
Eddie Gottlieb won the first title ever in the NBA’s precursor, the BAA, in 1947 for the Warriors.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 1, 2022
The BAA rebranded to the NBA after three seasons.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 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
“The baas says he can’t see you today,” he said, removing a fancy overcoat from a nail behind the door.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Many whites at the ranch had accepted me as an individual, an equal, that I called them by their first names, instead of baas, and could joke with them.
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
"She will know me," replied Agnes; "I am certain she will know me;"—and the delightful girl spoke with an energy that was baaed upon the confidence of that love which subsisted between them.
From Jane Sinclair; Or, The Fawn Of Springvale The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two by Carleton, William
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 Smiles, Samuel
She mooed like a Bullock, She baaed like a Ram, She leaped like a Goat, She skipped like a Lamb—Oh yes!
From Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1 by Cole, E. W. (Edward William)
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
We had to stop twice while herds of sheep, baaing and clanging their way down from their summer pastures to winter ones, engulfed our car for several minutes.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2018
But before long the baaing of sheep drowned them all out.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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.
