clepe

[ kleep ]

/ klip /

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).

Nearby words

cleomenes iii, cleon, cleopatra, cleopatra's needle, clep, clepe, clepsydra, clept, cleptobiosis, cleptocracy, cleptomania

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for clepe

And this star that is toward the north, that we clepe the Lode-star, ne appeareth not to them.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville|John Mandeville
And there be also urchins, as great as wild swine here; we clepe them Porcz de Spine.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville|John Mandeville
And then he made many statutes and ordinances that they clepe Ysya Chan.
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

And between that river and the great sea Ocean, that p. 169they clepe the Sea Maure, lie all these realms.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville|John Mandeville

British Dictionary definitions for clepe

clepe

/ (kliːp) /

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