Clepen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To call or name someone or something in a particular way, often used in archaic or dialectal contexts; to designate or label by a specific term; to assign a name or title to a person or thing in old or regional usage
2. To refer to or identify a person or object with a certain name or epithet, especially in historical or dialect language; to give a distinctive appellation or tag; to denote by a chosen moniker within traditional speech
3. To bestow a name or epithet upon someone or something, typically seen in older or local vernacular; to apply a particular designation or term; to recognize or address by a specific nomenclature in past or regional linguistic forms

Etymology: "Clepen" is an Old English verb, "clipian" or "cleopian," meaning to call out, summon, or name. Its most striking feature is its survival in Middle English and then its disappearance. It was the common word for "to call" through Chaucer's time, appearing in the Canterbury Tales, but it was gradually displaced by "call," which had entered English from Old Norse and spread from the north. The verb's rarity today is partly a matter of chance. While "clepen" faded from standard speech, it lingered in set phrases and poetic usage, and writers such as Spenser and later antiquarians revived it as an archaic flourish. The past participle "yclept," with its prefixed "y-" (from Old English "ge-"), became the more durable form, surviving in the phrase "yclept" meaning "called by the name of," as in Milton's and Shakespeare's era verse.

Synonyms: call, name, term, denominate, dub

Antonyms: ignore, overlook