clepe

American  

[kleep] / klip /

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

cleped, clept, ycleped, yclept, cleping

1. to call; name (now chiefly in the past participle as ycleped oryclept ).

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clepe British  

/ kliːp /

verb

1. archaic (tr) to call by the name of

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Etymology

Origin of clepe

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

Example Sentences

And some men clepe it the Vale Enchanted, some clepe it the Vale of Devils, and some clepe it the Vale Perilous. 

From The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Mandeville, John, Sir

And it casteth out of the water a thing that men clepe asphalt, also great pieces, as the greatness of an horse, every day and on all sides. 

From The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Mandeville, John, Sir

After, pass men overthwart a great river that men clepe Dalay. 

From The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Mandeville, John, Sir

And between the hills of that country there is a well that four sithes in the year changeth his colour, sometime green, sometime red, sometime clear and sometime trouble; and men clepe that well, Job. 

From The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Mandeville, John, Sir

Paraventure in thilke large book Which that men clepe the heven, y-writen was With sterres, whan that he his birthe took, That he for love shulde han his deeth, allas!

From Astronomical Lore in Chaucer by Grimm, Florence M.