beck
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English bek, bekk, becc, from Old English bæc, bec, bæċe, beċe (“beck, brook”), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“stream”).
Cognate with Old Norse bekkr (“a stream or brook”), Low German bek, beck, German Bach, Dutch beek, Swedish bäck, Doublet of batch. More at beach.
Noun[edit]
beck (plural becks)
- (Norfolk, Northern English dialect) A stream or small river.
- 1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 1, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC, page 3:
- […] Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie sets / The Bourns, the Brooks, the Becks, the Rills, the Rivilets […]
- 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
- […] the sky is blue, and the larks are singing, and the becks and brooks are all brim full.
- 1976, Archie Fisher (lyrics and music), “The Witch Of The West-Mer-Lands”, in The Man With A Rhyme, Sharon, CT: Folk Legacy Records:
- Beck water cold and clear, will never clean your wound
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English bekken, a shortened form of Middle English bekenen, from Old English bēcnan, bēacnian (“to signify; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *baukn, from Proto-Germanic *baukną (“beacon”). More at beacon.
Noun[edit]
beck (plural becks)
- A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 147, column 2:
- Ah, knovv you not the Citie fauours them, / And they haue troupes of Souldiers at their beck?
- 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 2:
- Then forthwith to him takes a choſen band / Of Spirits likeſt to himſelf in guile / To be at hand, and at his beck appear,
- 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
- The dog obeyed the significant beck of his finger, and they drew off, stealthily, together.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Verb[edit]
beck (third-person singular simple present becks, present participle becking, simple past and past participle becked)
- (archaic) To nod or motion with the head.
- c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
- When gold and silver becks me to come on.
- 1896, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Winter Evening Tales[1]:
- I'll buy so many acres of old Scotland and call them by the Lockerby's name; and I'll have nobles and great men come bowing and becking to David Lockerby as they do to Alexander Gordon.
- 1881, Various, The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III[2]:
- The becking waiter, that with wreathed smiles, wont to spread for Samuel and Bozzy their "supper of the gods," has long since pocketed his last sixpence; and vanished, sixpence and all, like a ghost at cock-crowing.
Etymology 3[edit]
See back.
Noun[edit]
beck (plural becks)
- A vat.
Etymology 4[edit]
From Middle English bec, bek, from Old French bec (“beak”).
Noun[edit]
beck (plural becks)
- Obsolete form of beak.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Headed like owles, with beckes 4 uncomely bent
Derived terms[edit]
Portuguese[edit]
Noun[edit]
beck m (plural becks)
- Alternative spelling of beque
Swedish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Norse bik, from Middle Low German pik, from Old Saxon pik, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. See also Dutch pek, German Pech.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
beck n
- pitch; A dark, extremely viscous material remaining in still after distilling crude oil and tar.
Declension[edit]
Declension of beck | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | beck | becket | — | — |
Genitive | becks | beckets | — | — |
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛk
- Rhymes:English/ɛk/1 syllable
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Norfolk English
- English terms with quotations
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms derived from Old French
- English obsolete forms
- en:Bodies of water
- en:Landforms
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese terms spelled with K
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- Swedish terms inherited from Old Norse
- Swedish terms derived from Old Norse
- Swedish terms derived from Middle Low German
- Swedish terms derived from Old Saxon
- Swedish terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Swedish terms derived from Latin
- Swedish terms with homophones
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns