Hete

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. An old form of the noun for heat or warmth ; the past tense of an archaic verb meaning to be named or called
2. Dated term for warmth or high temperature ; a past form of an obsolete verb meaning to be known by a name
3. A Middle English and Spenserian word for heat ; the earlier past tense of an old verb meaning to be called or promised

Etymology: "Hete" is a Middle English past tense meaning "was called" or "was named," from the verb "hoten." Its root is Old English "hātan," which carried a second sense, "to command," so to name someone was also, in a sense, to give them an order. "Hātan" is a Germanic word, related to German "heißen," "to be called." The past tense, with its vowel and ending shifted over time, survived in English as "hight." Edmund Spenser used it throughout "The Faerie Queene," where knights and maidens are always "hight" as if they had stepped out of an older language. Other writers of that period borrowed it for the same effect, so it now reads as archaic.

Synonyms: hate, detest, loathe, abhor, despise

Antonyms: love, adore, cherish, like, admire