beck
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English bek, bekk, becc, from Old Norse bekkr (“a stream or brook”), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“stream”).
Cognate with Low German bek, beck, German Bach, Dutch beek, Swedish bäck, Old English bæc, bec, bæċe, beċe (“beck, brook”). Doublet of batch. More at beach.
Noun[edit]
beck (plural becks)
- (Norfolk, Northern English dialect) A stream or small river.
- 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 1 p. 3[1]:
- […] Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie sets / The Bourns, the Brooks, the Becks, the Rills, the Rivilets […]
- 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, chapter XIII:
- {...} 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
- 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 1 p. 3[1]:
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[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.
- 1671, John Milton, “Book the Second”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, page 40:
- Then forthwith to him takes a choſen band / Of Spirits likeſt to himſelf in guile / To be at hand, and at his beck appear,
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, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iii]:
- When gold and silver becks me to come on.
- 1896, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Winter Evening Tales[2]:
- 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[3]:
- 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, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book 2, canto 9:
- Headed like owles, with beckes 4 uncomely bent
Portuguese[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- Rhymes: -ɛk(i)
Noun[edit]
beck m (plural becks)
- Alternative spelling of beque
Swedish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle Low German 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]
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- 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:Landforms
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese irregular nouns
- Swedish terms borrowed from Middle Low German
- Swedish terms derived from Middle Low German
- Swedish terms derived from Latin
- Swedish terms with homophones
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns