▪ I. prate, n.
(preɪt)
[f. prate v. Cf. MDu. (c 1375), WFris. praet, Du., LG., NFris. praat, EFris. prôt, Da., Swed. prat talk, tattle, rumour.]
The act or action of prating; talk; now esp. idle, profitless, or irrelevant talk; chatter, prattle.
| 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue, Heret. Affirm. b ij b, Have not much prate or disputation with straungers. 1592 Greene Def. Conny Catch. Wks. (Grosart) XI. 98 [He] began to hold the fellow in prate, and to question whose man hee was. 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. i. 27 The common foode of prate: ‘what newes at court?’ 1704 S. Fuace in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. (1871) I. 90 ‘Hold your prate, Sirrah’ said he..‘you are an impudent Rogue’. 1728 Swift Jrnl. Mod. Lady 142 How should I, alas! relate The sum of all their senseless prate? 1860 Thackeray Lovel ii. (1869) 163 On I would go with my prate about my passion, my wrongs, and despair. |
▪ II. prate, v.
(preɪt)
Also 6 praite, Sc. prat(t.
[Not found before 15th c.: = MDu. prāten (c 1400), praeten, Du. praten, WFris. præten, praten, proten, EFris. proten, MLG., LG. praten, proten; thence also MHG. braten, braden, Icel., Norw., MSwed., Swed. prata, Da. prate, to talk, chatter, prate. Not known in the earlier stage of the langs.; perh. a later onomatopœic formation.]
1. intr. To talk, to chatter: usually dyslogistic, implying speaking much or long to little purpose; formerly also to speak insolently, boastfully, or officiously; to tell tales, blab.
| c 1420 [implied in prater]. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 155 He may weel grucche and with his tounge prate. 1550 J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds §62 (1877) 77, I mervayle, syr Heralde, how you dare so untruly prate agaynst your soveraygne lord the kyng of England. 1570 Buchanan Chamæleon Wks. (1892) 53 [He] prattit proudlie, vantyng yat his pen sould be worth ten thowsand men. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 492 b, You prate hard, but you prove nought. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 58 Thy very stones prate of my where-about. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle iii. 992 They will prate Till they tire all men with their idle chatt. 1713 Berkeley Guardian No. 3 ¶1 Sober wretches, who prate whole evenings over coffee. 1747 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. viii. 54 No words! I will not be prated to. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 31 And she is prating learnedly Of logic and of chemistry. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 212 You prate, he said, instead of answering. |
b. With at: To scold; to ‘give a lecture to’. dial.
| 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., He might have prated at him and let it go by. |
2. trans. To utter, say, or tell in a prating manner; to tell or repeat to little purpose.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xiv. 320 What somever ye prate, say, or crake, sayd Charlemagn, ye shall not scape me. 1575 Gamm. Gurton ii. iv. C j b, Auant..syr knaue, what pratest thou of that I fynd? 1630 B. Jonson New Inn i. i, He prates Latin, An it were a parrot, or a play-boy. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 21 What Nonsense wou'd the Fool thy Master prate. 1821 Byron Sardan. v. i. 292 You are sent to prate your master's will, and not Reply to mine. 1891 N. Gould Double Event 2 Prating mere polite nothings to a young lady fresh from school. |
3. intr. Of hounds: To ‘given tongue’. Of hens: To cluck. (dial.)
| 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvi. 158 Loues Beagles be vncoupeld, Beautie praites And driues my Heart from out the Thicks. 1873 Spilling Molly Miggs i. 6 If the hen doant prate she oant lay. |