Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a (feeble) complaint.

1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 6 Aug. 2nd sect. 9/1: They Say [...] That Monte Goldsburg will at least be in attendance to unburden his bleat.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 252: There was no way getting past that bleat of yours.
1949		H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1981) II 58: I would have to listen to five or six different kinds of bleat every time.
1977		Maclean’s (Toronto) 31 Oct. 20: ‘Is this going to happen every day?’ was a repeated bleat from those deprived of their Monday soap fix.

2. talk, statements.

1900		Age (Melbourne) 4 Jan. 6/7: There are theories in plenty besides, from the severe man’s ‘Let ’em alone, and flu. will do for themselves right enough,’ to the doctrinaire’s bleat of ‘Put ’em on the land’.
1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 49: I have listened to his breezy bleat so often that I know his yarn by heart.
1940		E. Ferber ‘You’re Not the Type’ in One Basket (1947) 523: False bleats of congratulations.
1940		in W.C. Fields By Himself (1974) 370: This is the last suggestion, bleat, will document and codicil I shall make.

3. (US) an act of informing; a revelation.

1938		W. Winchell On Broadway 17 Nov. [synd. col.] Every now and then a sixteen-year-old from the finishing schools scares the living daylights out of the parents with a bleat on what goes on behind those walls.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 28: I will be compelled to let out a bleat.

4. (US) a radio message.

1943		R.L. Bellem ‘Monster’s Malice’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective May 🌐 Put out a radio bleat for him.
1946		R.L. Bellem ‘Latin Blood’ in Speed Detective Aug. 🌐 I realized Dave might put out a radio bleat for all cops to keep a glim peeled for his glommed jalopy.

5. (UK prison) a petition to the Home Secretary for reduction or repeal of one’s sentence.

1950		P. Tempest Lag’s Lex. 18: bleat A Petition to the Home Secretary.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.