clepe

[kleep]

verb (used with object), cleped or clept (also y·cleped or y·clept ), clep·ing. Archaic.

to call; name (now chiefly in the past participle as ycleped or yclept).

Origin of clepe

before 900; Middle English clepen, Old English cleopian, variant of clipian; akin to Middle Low German kleperen to rattle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for clepe

Historical Examples of clepe

And then he made many statutes and ordinances that they clepe Ysya Chan.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
John Mandeville
And there be many popinjays, that they clepe psittakes their language.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
John Mandeville
But that is not that east that we clepe our east, on this half, where the sun riseth to us.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
John Mandeville
And in that isle dwelleth the pope of their law, that they clepe Lobassy.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
John Mandeville
For schal I clepe it a felonie an or a synne at I haue desired e sauuacioun of e ordre of e senat.
Chaucer's Translation of Boethius's 'De Consolatione Philosophiae'
Geoffrey Chaucer

British Dictionary definitions for clepe

clepe

verb clepes, cleping, cleped (kliːpt, klɛpt), clept, ycleped or yclept

(tr) archaic to call by the name of

Word Origin for clepe

Old English cleopian; related to Middle Low German kleperen to rattle

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 clepe

"to call; to name" (archaic), from Old English cleopian, clipian "to speak, call; summon, invoke; implore."