Blat

Quick meaning: Blat is a verb meaning (intransitive) To cry, as a calf, sheep, or goat.

Meaning

(intransitive) To cry, as a calf, sheep, or goat.

More Meanings

1. (intransitive) To make a senseless noise.
2. To talk inconsiderately; blab.
3. To produce an overrich or overblown sound on a brass instrument such as a trumpet, trombone, or tuba.
4. (transitive) To utter loudly or foolishly; blurt.
5. The Soviet system of connections and social relationships; one's social or business network (in Russian or Soviet society).

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: baa (sheep or goat)

To open a new business in Russia you need blat.

A moment later the engine roared into life. Exhaust blatted through the straight-pipes; people stopped on the street to look.

I argue that just as blat was an essential type of know-how of Soviet socialism, these postsocialist informal practices represent the “know-how” of post-Soviet Russia.

Word Forms

• blats
• blatting
• blatted

Synonyms for blat

Depending on context, synonyms include bleat, baa, guanxi, blate.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include bleat, baa, blate, el, bawl, outbleat.

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