weather-blate, -blade, -bleat Anglo-Irish.
[Etymologizing perversion (after weather n.) of OE. hæferblǽte: see heather-bleat.]
The snipe.
| 1802 G. V. Sampson Statist. Surv. Londonderry 459 The weather-blate, or snipe, flying high in a calm night, is a good sign. 1890 D. A. Simmons Words Armagh & S. Donegal (E.D.D.), Weather-blade, a snipe which utters a sound like a goat. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 2/3 The black water-hen and the sad weather-bleat. |