different between oblate vs blate

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??ble?t/ (or IPA^(key): /??ble?t/ for adjective)
• (US) IPA^(key): /??ble?t/

Etymology 1

From French oblat and its source, post-classical Latin obl?tus (“person dedicated to religious life”), a nominal use of the past participle of offer? (“I offer”).

Noun

oblate (plural oblates)

1. (Roman Catholicism) A person dedicated to a life of religion or monasticism, especially a member of an order without religious vows or a lay member of a religious community.
2. A child given up by its parents into the keeping or dedication of a religious order or house.
   • 2007, The Venerable Bede started as an oblate at St Paul's, Jarrow, but by the time of his death in 735 was surely the most learned man in Europe. — Tom Shippey, ‘I Lerne Song’, London Review of Books 29:4, p. 19

Related terms

• oblation
• offer
• offering

Etymology 2

From Late Latin obl?tus, from Latin ob (“in front of, before”) + l?tus (“broad, wide”), (modeled after pr?l?tus (“extended, lengthened”)).

Adjective

oblate (comparative more oblate, superlative most oblate)

1. Flattened or depressed at the poles.

   The Earth is an oblate spheroid.

   • 1922, Why should I not speak to him or to any human being who walks upright upon this oblate orange? — James Joyce, Ulysses
   • 1997, ‘ ’Tis prolate, still,’ with a long dejected Geordie O. ‘Isn’t it…?’ ‘I’m an Astronomer,– trust me, ’tis gone well to oblate.’ — Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon

Translations

Antonyms

• prolate

Related terms

• oblatum

See also

• equidimensional

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

oblate (third-person singular simple present oblates, present participle oblating, simple past and past participle oblated)

1. To offer as either a gift or an oblation.

Anagrams

• boatel, lobate

Italian

Adjective

oblate

1. feminine plural of oblato

Anagrams

• balteo, belato

Latin

Participle

obl?te

1. vocative masculine singular of obl?tus

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ble?t/

Etymology 1

From Scots blate (“timid, sheepish”), apparently a conflation of Northern *Middle English blate, *blait (“pale, ghastly, terrified”), from Old English bl?t (“pale, livid, ghastly”), from Proto-West Germanic *blait (“pale, discoloured”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?leyd- (“pale, pallid”) and Middle English bleth, bleath (“timid, soft”), from Old English bl?aþ (“gentle, shy, cowardly, timid; slothful, inactive, effeminate”), from Proto-Germanic *blauþuz (“weak, timid, void, naked”). Cognate with German blassen (“to make pale”), bleich (“pale, pallid”). More at bleak, bleach.

Adjective

blate (comparative blater, superlative blatest)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Bashful, sheepish.
   • 1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 491:

     You'd say Not them; fine legs, and Ma struggling into her blouse would say You're no blate. Who told you they're fine?

2. (Scotland, Northern England) Dull, stupid.

Etymology 2

Verb

blate (third-person singular simple present blates, present participle blating, simple past and past participle blated)

1. Archaic form of bleat.

Anagrams

• ablet, bleat, table

Dutch

Verb

blate

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of blaten

Anagrams

• tabel

Scots

Etymology

Origin uncertain; perhaps from Old English bl?t (“pale”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [blet], [blit]

Adjective

blate (comparative blater, superlative blatest)

1. shy, modest, timid, sheepish
2. stupid, easily deceived, dull, unpromising