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yclept

or y·cleped

[ee-klept]
verb
  1. a past participle of clepe.
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Origin of yclept

before 1000; Middle English ycleped, Old English geclypod, past participle of clypian, cleopian to clepe

clepe

[kleep]
verb (used with object), cleped or clept (also y·cleped or y·clept ), clep·ing. Archaic.
  1. to call; name (now chiefly in the past participle as ycleped or yclept).
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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 yclept

Historical Examples

  • Am I not yclept quacksalver by those that come not near me, and wizard by those I heal?

    The Cloister and the Hearth

    Charles Reade

  • And dared the vengeance of the Russ, whose sway is yclept divine?

  • I take it, however, as a hopeful sign that one of the latest comers to the circle is yclept Radium.

    The Welsh Pony

    Olive Tilford Dargan

  • On one of these our cow gun, yclept "Wearie Willie," was hauled; it took fifty-six oxen to get him up there.

  • The superstitious declared the gorge was haunted by a frightful, hirsute demon, yclept Hobthurst.

    The Lancashire Witches

    William Harrison Ainsworth

British Dictionary definitions for yclept

yclept

verb
  1. a past participle of clepe
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adjective
  1. having the name of; called
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Word Origin

Old English gecleopod, past participle of cleopian to call

clepe

verb clepes, cleping, cleped (kliːpt, klɛpt), clept, ycleped or yclept
  1. (tr) archaic to call by the name of
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Word Origin

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 yclept

Old English gicliopad; from y- + pas participle of cleopian, cpipian "to speak, call; summon, invoke; implore" (see clepe).

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clepe

v.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper