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beach

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Beach

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Waves on a beach.
A beach in Delaware.
Beach in Parga, Greece

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.
Proto-Germanic *bakiz
Proto-West Germanic *baki
Old English bæċ
Middle English bache
English beach

    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.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    beach (plural beaches)

    1. The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly.
      • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
        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. A horizontal strip of land, usually sandy, adjoining water.
      • 1988, Robert Ferro, Second Son:
        Up and down, the beach lay empty for miles.
    3. (UK dialectal, Sussex, Kent) The loose pebbles of the seashore, especially worn by waves; shingle.
    4. (motor racing, euphemistic) Synonym of gravel trap.
    5. (sports) A dry, dusty pitch or situation, as though playing on sand.
      • 2008, Phil Shaw, The Book of Football Quotations, page 415:
        I never realised Lincoln was a seaside town. BRIAN LAWS Scunthorpe manager, after losing on a liberally sanded beach of a pitch
      • 2012, Tim Quelch, Bent Arms & Dodgy Wickets:
        The series was brought to an ironic conclusion when England became hoist by their own petard, as they lost the deciding final Test on a 'beach' of a wicket. Neither side batted well.
    6. Euphemistic form of bitch (taboo swear word).
      That beach should be punished!

    Synonyms

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    horizontal strip of land adjoining water

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • → Japanese: ビーチ
    • → Punjabi: ਬੀਚ (bīc)
    • → Zulu: ibhishi

    Translations

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    Verb

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    beach (third-person singular simple present beaches, present participle beaching, simple past and past participle beached)

    1. (intransitive) To run aground on a beach.
      • 1941, Emily Carr, “Salt Water”, in Klee Wyck:
        When we finally beached, the land was scarcely less wet than the sea.
    2. (transitive) To run (something) aground on a beach.
      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 90”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
        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.
      • 1974, Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Iliad, Doubleday, Book Two, lines 530-31, p. 53:
        Great Aías led twelve ships from Sálamis
        and beached them where Athenians formed for battle.
    3. (of a vehicle) 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.

    Synonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    Anagrams

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    French

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    FWOTD – 6 June 2022

    Etymology

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      Borrowed from English beach.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      beach m (plural beachs)

      1. (Congo) port where goods and passengers embark and debark
        • 2006 March 14, Tshiala David, “Baisse du trafic au beach Ngobila entre Kinshasa et Brazzaville”, in Le Potentiel:
          C’est ainsi qu’elles ont décidé d’embarquer leurs marchandises dans des pirogues motorisés qui desservent les beachs privés entre les deux rives du fleuve Congo.
          (please add an English translation of this quotation)
        • 2007, Jean-Alexis M'Foutou, La langue française au Congo-Brazzaville:
          Le Beach de Brazzaville hier réputé lieu de violence, de viols et de braquages, présent aujourd’hui des conditions de sécurité plutôt rassurantes.
          (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      Irish

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      Irish Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia ga

      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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      From Old Irish bech,[1] from Proto-Celtic *bikos (compare Middle Welsh beg-egyr, byg-egyr (“drone”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰik- (compare Proto-Slavic *bьčela), suffixed zero-grade of *bʰey- (compare Welsh by-daf (“beehive”), English bee).

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      beach f (genitive singular biche, nominative plural beacha)

      1. bee (a flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey)

      Declension

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      Declension of beach (second declension)
      bare forms
      singular plural
      nominative beach beacha
      vocative a bheach a bheacha
      genitive beiche beach
      dative beach
      beich (archaic, dialectal)       		beacha
      forms with the definite article
      singular plural
      nominative an bheach na beacha
      genitive na beiche na mbeach
      dative leis an mbeach
      leis an mbeich (archaic, dialectal)
      don bheach
      don bheich (archaic, dialectal)       		leis na beacha

      Derived terms

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      Mutation

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      Mutated forms of beach
      radical lenition eclipsis
      beach bheach mbeach

      Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
      All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

      References

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      1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “bech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

      Further reading

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      • A. Palandri, Ú. Bhreathnach, M. Měchura, G. Ó Cleircín, and B. Ó Raghallaigh, (2026), “beach”, in Taisce Chanúintí na Gaeilge - Repository of Irish Dialects‎[1] (in Irish and English), Dublin City University
      • Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “beaċ”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla [Irish and English Dictionary], 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 85; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
      • “beach”, in Foclóir Nua Gaeilge (in Irish), Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026
      • Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “beach”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

      Scottish Gaelic

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      Beach air flùr
      Bee on flower

      Etymology

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      From Old Irish bech,[1] from Proto-Celtic *bikos (compare Middle Welsh beg-egyr, byg-egyr (“drone”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰik- (compare Proto-Slavic *bьčela), suffixed zero-grade of *bʰey- (compare Welsh by-daf (“beehive”), English bee).

      Pronunciation

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      Request for audio pronunciation This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

      Noun

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      beach m (genitive singular beacha, nominative plural beachan)

      1. bee (a flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey)
        Synonym: seillean
      2. beehive
      3. wasp
        Synonym: speach

      Derived terms

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      Mutation

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      Mutation of beach
      radical lenition
      beach bheach

      Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
      All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

      References

      [edit]
      1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “bech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

      Further reading

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      • Edward Dwelly (1911), “beach”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
      • MacBain, Alexander; Mackay, Eneas (1911), “beach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎[2], Stirling, →ISBN, page 31
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