bate

Etymology 1

table Inherited from Middle English baten (“to abate”), an aphetic form of abaten.

verb

1. (transitive) To reduce the force of something; to abate.
2. (transitive) To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation
3. (transitive, sometimes figurative) To cut off, remove, take away.
4. (archaic, transitive) To leave out, except, bar.
5. To waste away.
6. To deprive of.
7. To lessen by retrenching, deducting, or reducing; to abate; to beat down; to lower.
8. To allow by way of abatement or deduction.

Etymology 2

table * Noun: From the verb, or directly from the noun debate. * Verb: From Middle English bate (“contention”), from Old French batre (French battre), from Latin battere.

noun

1. Strife; contention.

verb

1. (intransitive) To contend or strive with blows or arguments.
2. (intransitive, falconry) Of a falcon: To flap the wings vigorously; to bait.
   The fiꝛſt is holde faſt at all timys, and ſpecially whan ſhe batith. It is calde batyng, for ſhe batith with hiꝛ ſelfe moſt oftyn cauſeles[.] 1486, Juliana Berners, Book of Saint Albans
   I am like a hawk , that bates , when I see occasion of service , but cannot fly because I am tied to another's fist 1600, Francis Bacon, letter to Queen Elizabeth, upon the sending of a new-year's gift

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Swedish beta (“maceration, tanning”).

noun

1. An alkaline lye which neutralizes the effect of the previous application of lime, and makes hides supple in the process of tanning.
   The process of unliming hides and skins in tanning has been a slow and disgusting one, consisting in soaking the skins in a bath of manure in water, called bate. 1888, Popular Science, volume 34, number 10, page 287
2. A vat which contains this liquid.

verb

1. (transitive) To soak leather so as to remove chemicals used in tanning; to steep in bate.

Etymology 4

Formed by analogy with eat → ate or other Class 5 strong verbs (compare gave, obsolete spake, etc.), with which it shares an analogous past participle (eaten → beaten).

verb

1. (obsolete or nonstandard) simple past of beat; = beat.
   Leonard: Penny’s taking you to the DMV; I’m going to bed. Sheldon: Why Penny? Leonard: Because rock bate scissors. Goodnight. October 20, 2008, Lee Aronsohn, David Goetsch, Steven Molaro, Bill Prady, “The Euclid Alternative”, in The Big Bang Theory, season 2, episode 5, Chuck Lorre Productions, via Warner Bros. Television and CBS

Etymology 5

Clipping of masturbate.

verb

1. (intransitive, slang) To masturbate.