bleep

[bleep]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bleep ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a brief, constant beeping sound, usually of a high pitch and generated by an electronic device.

such an electronic sound used to replace a censored word or phrase, as on a television broadcast.

Also blip. (used as a euphemism to indicate the omission or deletion of an obscenity or other objectionable word).

verb (used without object)

(of an electronic device) to emit a series of bleeps as an audible signal, summons, or warning.

verb (used with object)

Also blip. to censor (an obscene, vulgar, or other objectionable word or phrase) from a radio or television broadcast by deleting from the audio signal, leaving a gap or an electronic tone: The word was bleeped out of the comedian's routine.

Origin of bleep

First recorded in 1950–55; perhaps imitative

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bleep

indicator, alarm, cue, sign, beacon, gesture, invalidate, annul, vacate, abrogate, dissolve, rescind, phone, contact, telephone, blacklist, excise, edit, suppress, withhold

Examples from the Web for bleep

Contemporary Examples of bleep

He tried another, and the bleep this time was far more insistent (and more alarming).
Borana Joins the Fight to Save Kenya’s Rhinos…and Wants You to Help Too
Joanna Eede
February 18, 2014
If you listened closely during the bleep, you could faintly hear Jacqueline Bissett still giving her speech.
Golden Globes Recap: All the Best, Weirdest Moments You (May Have) Missed
Kevin Fallon
January 13, 2014
Did Miss New York call current Miss America 'fat as [bleep]'?
Julianne Moore Cast in ‘Hunger Games,’ Miss New York Calls Miss America Fat
Culture Team
September 13, 2013
Quinn hugged the woman and bellowed, “They may have to bleep ya!”
As Christine Quinn Fades, Why Aren’t More Women Winning?
David Freedlander
September 8, 2013
Scenes like these are replayed daily on TV shows like Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?
Paula Broadwell, Eminem, & More Spurned Lovers Who Went Ballistic
Paula Froelich
November 15, 2012

British Dictionary definitions for bleep

bleep

noun

a short high-pitched signal made by an electronic apparatus; beep

another word for bleeper

verb

(intr) to make such a noise

(tr) to call (someone) by triggering the bleeper he or she is wearing

Word Origin for bleep

C20: of imitative origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bleep

"electronic noise," 1953, imitative.

1957, from bleep (n.); specific sense of "edit a sound over a word deemed unfit for broadcast" is from 1968 (earliest reference seems to be to the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on U.S. television). Related: Bleeped; bleeping.