? Obs. Forms: 6–7 ballat, 7 balett, 8 ballet, 7– ballad. [f. prec. sb.; cf. OF. balader.]
1. intr. To write or compose ballads.
1592. G. Harvey, Four Lett., 5. But who … like Elderton for ballating, Greene for pamfletting?
c. 1600. Donne, Juvenilia, i. (1633), B. Enuious Libellers ballad against them [women].
2. trans. To make (a person) the subject of ballads, or popular songs, especially scurrilous ones.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., V. ii. 216. And scald Rimers [will] Ballad vs out a Tune.
1636. Heywood, Challenge, II. i. Wks. 1874, V. 23. I shall be Ballated, Sung up and downe by minstrills.
1721. Southern, Disappointm., III. i. 107. Stag’d to the crowd … Nay, balleted about the streets in rhime.
