BATE, noun [It is probably from the root of beat. See Debate.] Strife; contention; retained in make-bate. BATE, verb transitive [The literal sense is, to beat, strike, thrust; to force down. See Beat.] To lessen by retrenching, deducting or reducing; as, to bate the wages of the laborer; to bate good cheer. [We now use abate.] BATE, verb intransitive To grow or become less; to remit or retrench a part; with of. Abate thy speed and I will bate of mine. Spenser uses bate in the sense of sinking, driving in, penetrating; a sense regularly deducible from that of beat, to thrust. Yet there the steel staid not, but inly bate Deep in the flesh, and open'd wide a red flood gate.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI