bleep
[bleep]
- 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).
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- (of an electronic device) to emit a series of bleeps as an audible signal, summons, or warning.
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- 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.
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Origin of bleep
First recorded in 1950–55; perhaps imitative
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
indicator, alarm, cue, sign, beacon, gesture, invalidate, annul, vacate, abrogate, dissolve, rescind, phone, contact, telephone, blacklist, excise, edit, suppress, withholdExamples from the Web for bleep
Contemporary Examples
He tried another, and the bleep this time was far more insistent (and more alarming).
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) MissedKevin 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 FatCulture Team
September 13, 2013
Quinn hugged the woman and bellowed, “They may have to bleep ya!”
Scenes like these are replayed daily on TV shows like Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?
bleep
- a short high-pitched signal made by an electronic apparatus; beep
- another word for bleeper
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- (intr) to make such a noise
- (tr) to call (someone) by triggering the bleeper he or she is wearing
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Word Origin
C20: of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for bleep
n.
"electronic noise," 1953, imitative.
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v.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper