Beach

//biːt͡ʃ// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname. countable, uncountable

    "“The commissioner does not affect the numbers,’’ Beach said. “They don’t collect the data. They don’t massage the data. They don’t organize it.”"

  2. 2
    A surname.; A surname from English countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A surname.; A surname from English; A surname from landforms countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A surname.; A surname from German countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A placename; A hamlet in Bitton parish, South Gloucestershire district, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom (OS grid ref ST7070). countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    A placename; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Ware County, Georgia. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A placename; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Webster County, Missouri. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A placename; A number of places in the United States:; A small city, the county seat of Golden Valley County, North Dakota. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A placename; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community on Lummi Island, Whatcom County, Washington. countable, uncountable
Noun
  1. 1
    The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly.

    "Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach."

  2. 2
    an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake wordnet
  3. 3
    A horizontal strip of land, usually sandy, adjoining water.

    "Up and down, the beach lay empty for miles."

  4. 4
    The loose pebbles of the seashore, especially worn by waves; shingle. Kent, UK, dialectal
  5. 5
    Synonym of gravel trap. euphemistic
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  1. 6
    A dry, dusty pitch or situation, as though playing on sand.

    "I never realised Lincoln was a seaside town. BRIAN LAWS Scunthorpe manager, after losing on a liberally sanded beach of a pitch"

  2. 7
    Euphemistic form of bitch (taboo swear word). euphemistic, form-of

    "That beach should be punished!"

Verb
  1. 1
    To run aground on a beach. intransitive

    "When we finally beached, the land was scarcely less wet than the sea."

  2. 2
    land on a beach wordnet
  3. 3
    To run (something) aground on a beach. transitive

    "It seems that some honest mariners of Dover, or Sandwich, or some one of the Cinque Ports, had after a hard chase succeeded in killing and beaching a fine whale which they had originally descried afar off from the shore."

  4. 4
    To run into an obstacle or rough or soft ground, so that the floor of the vehicle rests on the ground and the wheels cannot gain traction.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English bache, bæcche (“bank, sandbank”), from Old English beċe (“beck, brook, stream”), from Proto-West Germanic *baki, from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“brook”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“flowing water”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian pach (“brook, creek, stream”), Dutch beek (“brook, stream”), German Bach (“brook, stream”), German Low German Beek (“brook, stream”), Luxembourgish Baach (“brook, stream”), Mòcheno pòch (“brook, creek, stream”), Vilamovian bāh, baoch (“brook, stream”), Danish bæk (“brook”), Icelandic bekkur (“creek, spring, stream”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk bekk (“brook, creek, stream”), Swedish bäck (“brook, creek, stream”); also Lithuanian banga (“billow, wave”). More at batch, beck.

Etymology 2

From Middle English bache, bæcche (“bank, sandbank”), from Old English beċe (“beck, brook, stream”), from Proto-West Germanic *baki, from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“brook”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“flowing water”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian pach (“brook, creek, stream”), Dutch beek (“brook, stream”), German Bach (“brook, stream”), German Low German Beek (“brook, stream”), Luxembourgish Baach (“brook, stream”), Mòcheno pòch (“brook, creek, stream”), Vilamovian bāh, baoch (“brook, stream”), Danish bæk (“brook”), Icelandic bekkur (“creek, spring, stream”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk bekk (“brook, creek, stream”), Swedish bäck (“brook, creek, stream”); also Lithuanian banga (“billow, wave”). More at batch, beck.

Etymology 3

English surname reflecting multiple origins, including the nouns beach and beech, and Americanized from the German surname Bisch.

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