▪ I. replete, a.
(rɪˈpliːt)
Also 4–5 repleet, 5–6 -plet, (5 reyplete), 6 Sc. -pleit(e, 6–7 -pleate, 6–8 -pleat.
[a. F. replet, replète (14th c., Oresme), or ad. L. replētus, pa. pple. of replēre to fill: cf. complete a.]
1. a. Physically or materially filled with († or full of) some thing or substance. Also without const.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 137 Ware the sonne in his ascencion Ne fynde yow nat repleet of humours hoote. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 135 Þro whiche stoppenge the pleyne growndes of Egipte be replete with water. c 1491 Chast. Goddes Chyld. 20 The weder is full colde, therfore..the wycked humours ben styred and make the stomocke replete. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. ix. ii, Ane well sprang up..with sic haboundance of blud, that all the stretis wer repleite thairof. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 113/2 Infuse theron the expressed oyle, till the glasse be wholy repleate. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 106 Sweet Gardens, repleat with fragrant flowres. 1725 Pope Odyss. xv. 149 A golden ewer..Replete with water from the crystal springs. a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 3 All places on the surface of the earth are replete with air. 1849 Murchison Siluria ii. 30 Much younger rocks replete with organic remains. 1889 Duncan Lect. Dis. Women xxiv. (ed. 4) 195 Making the peritonæum to protrude..as a pouch, which, when replete, resembled a cyst. |
b. Filled to satisfaction with, full of, food or drink; satisfied, sated, gorged.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pard. T. 161 Herodes,..Whan he of wyn was repleet at his feeste. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 15 Cromes fallenge from the table of lordes, whiche replete lefte fragmente to theire childre. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xxv. 76 They were all satysfyed and replete and had well dynyd. 1704 Swift T. Tub Wks. 1760 I. 87 When by these and the like performances they were grown sufficiently replete, they would immediately depart. 1811 Ora & Juliet III. 134 So replete was she of the good things of the table, that Zaire stared at her in wonder. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid iii. 630 With the banquet replete..he had lain full length in his lair. |
† c. Plethoric, fat, stout. Obs.
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1336 Seeing that the fatnesse of his repleat bodie would not suffer them to take away his life presently. c 1645 Howell Lett. i. i. xv, They are more plump and replete in their Bodies..than those that drink altogether Wine. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 12 The Patient being of a strong and replete Habit of Body. |
2. a. Filled with († full of), abundantly supplied or provided with, in various lit. and fig. uses.
| 1382 Wyclif Phil. iv. 18, I am repleet with tho thingis takun of Epafrodite. c 1450 Lovelich Merlin (E.E.T.S.) 6236 Of alle vertwes sche is Repleet. c 1485 E.E. Misc. (Warton Cl.) 16 Where is now thy hyȝe palleys, reyplete Of reches..? 1582 Bentley Mon. Matrones ii. 201 Eternall tribulation, and infinite calamitie, repleat with all euills. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iv. 132 It is repleate with all the blessings, earth can giue to man. 1704 Swift T. Tub Wks. 1751 I. 8 A good sizeable Volume..replete with Discoveries equally valuable for their Novelty and Use. 1764 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. in Lett. (1772) II. 161 Those denunciations of ruin with which their orations are replete. 1847 L. Hunt Jar Honey xi. (1848) 149 The very air seems replete with humming and buzzing melodies. 1973 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 5 June 4/4 Statutes are replete with misplaced commas. |
b. Fully imbued or invested with some quality or property.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 217 The lyfe of noon other thynge is more frayle, replete with moste infirmite. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 60, I folowed her into a temple ferre, Replete wyth joy. 1587 Holinshed Chron. III. 916/2, I am but a wretch replet with miserie. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix. 409 He was repleate with all abhominable vices. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. ii. xlv. 303 If the Body is repleat with strength, the Sick, without doubt, will escape and not die. 1777 Priestley Disc. Philos. Necess. 204, I have shewn..that the system of immaterialism is replete with absurdity. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. vi. 566 The proceedings..appeared to be replete with irregularity and injustice. 1871 Macduff Mem. Patmos xvii. 221 Perspicuous in meaning and replete with practical instruction. |
† 3. Filled or crowded with people. Obs.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy iii. iii. (S.T.S.) I. 249 The tempillis war replete with men and women. 1596 Edw. III, i. i, The realm of France Replete with princes of great parentage. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena iv. 122 Don Eulavio's house..he founde open and repleate with servants. |
4. Full, entire, perfect, complete.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 183 To whom I promise A counterpoize; If not to thy estate, A ballance more repleat. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xvii. 425 Among the subordinate characters, not one is drawn with more replete originality than that of Owen Glendower. |
▪ II. replete, v. Now rare.
(rɪˈpliːt)
Also 6–7 -pleat, 6 Sc. -pleit.
[f. L. replēt-, ppl. stem. of replēre: see prec.]
† 1. trans. To fill with something; to crowd, stuff, cram. Obs.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 243 The waterleches didde replete the cite of Neapolis with a multitude infinite. 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. H, Stronge wyne..vehementlye enflameth a mans body & repleteth the heed. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 129 Than Calfis and brint Sacrifice Thy Aulter sall repleit. 1620 Venner Via Recta iii. 50 It repleteth their stomackes with crude and phlegmaticke humors. 1669 Cokaine Poems 257 They that are gluttons, and love meat,..The greasy Cook-shops may repleat. |
| refl. 1636 Quarles Eleg. Sir J. Cæsar, Repleat thyself with everlasting Manna. |
† b. To fill, stock, or people (a place) with things, animals, or persons. Obs.
| c 1540 Boorde The Boke for to Lerne B iij b, A fayre gardyn repleatyd with herbes. Ibid., A parke repletyd with dere. 1547 ― Introd. Knowl. xxxviii. (1870) 217 Egipt is repleted now with infydele alyons. |
† c. To fill (a place) with noise, or with a report. Obs. rare.
| 1573 Twyne æneid xi. Gg iv b, With wofull cries and piteous shoutes the town they do repleat. 1694 Motteux Rabelais (1737) V. 229 Your placid Life, here inaudite before, Repletes the Town of Lugdun. |
† 2. To fill (a person, the mind, etc.) with some property or quality. Also without const. Obs.
| 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 30 Y felte me repletyd there in the resceyuing of tho discyplynys. 1542 Becon Pathw. Prayer xxx. Wks. 1564 I. 83 That thou mayest be repleted wyth the knowledge of spirituall thynges. 1612 R. Sheldon Serm. St. Martin's 6 It also repleteth the mind with such a treasurie of discourse. 1658 Cokaine Obstinate Lady ii. iii, Ile not desire the Muses to repleat My willing genius with poetick heat. |
† b. In pa. pple. of a period of time. Obs.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 116 Another sort, adiudged that present time, to be..moste repleted with perilles. 1589 Ann Dowriche in Farr S P. Eliz. (1845) II. 359 Repleated oft with wandring change Recount your life to be. |
3. To replenish; to fill again. rare.
| 1704 D'Urfey Abradatus & Panthea i, Scarce had the pale Empress of the night..twice repleted shone serene and bright. 1882–3 Schaff Encycl. Relig. Knowl. I. 155 [Hamathites] were transported into Samaria by the Assyrians to replete that depopulated district. |
Hence reˈpleted ppl. a., † well-fed.
| 1667 Decay Chr. Piety viii. ¶34. 282 They preferr'd a repleated slavery, before a hungry freedom. |
▪ III. replete, n.
(rɪˈpliːt)
[f. the adj.]
Something that is replete; spec. an ant which is distended with food.
| 1908 W. M. Wheeler in Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. XXIV. 379 In most cases, as McCook has shown, it is the major workers that most readily tend to become repletes. 1923 Jrnl. Proc. Roy. Soc. W. Austral. IX. 47 The impulse to develop repletes is probably due to the brief and temporary abundance of liquid food..in arid regions. 1929 Encycl. Brit. XX. 885/2 Since ants..have not the art of making receptacles, they [sc. honey ants] have adopted the curious method of using the crops of certain workers or soldiers for the purpose of food storage... Individuals thus functioning are termed repletes... When hungry the ants stroke the repletes and receive from them droplets of regurgitated honey-dew collected during times of plenty. 1979 National Geographic Nov. 630 The swollen worker ants, called repletes, have been fed by other workers until their abdomens are nearly grape size. |