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Beck

 [bek]   Origin

beck

1   [bek]
noun
1.
a gesture used to signal, summon, or direct someone.
2.
Chiefly Scot. a bow or curtsy of greeting.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
3.
Archaic. beckon.

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Beck is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
to spend time idly; loaf.
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
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Idiom
4.
at someone's beck and call, ready to do someone's bidding; subject to someone's slightest wish: He has three servants at his beck and call.
Origin:
1325–75; Middle English becken, short variant of becnen to beckon
Dictionary.com Unabridged

beck

2   [bek]
noun North England.
a brook, especially a swiftly running stream with steep banks.
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English becc < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse bekkr; akin to Old English bece, Dutch beek, German Bach brook, MIr bual flowing water < Indo-European *bhog-lā

beck

3   [bek]
verb (used with object) Metalworking.
to form (a billet or the like) into a tire or hoop by rolling or hammering on a mandrel or anvil.
Origin:
v. use of beck (noun), shortening of beck-iron, variant of bick-iron

Beck

   [bek]
noun
Dave, 1894–1993, U.S. labor leader: president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters 1952–57.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
beck1 (bɛk)
 
—n
1.  a nod, wave, or other gesture or signal
2.  at someone's beck and call ready to obey someone's orders instantly; subject to someone's slightest whim
 
[C14: short for becnen to beckon]

beck2 (bɛk)
 
—n
(in N England) a stream, esp a swiftly flowing one
 
[Old English becc, from Old Norse bekkr; related to Old English bece, Old Saxon beki, Old High German bah brook, Sanskrit bhanga wave]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

beck
late 14c., "mute signal," from bekken (v.), var. of becnan "to beckon" (see beckon). Transferred sense of "slightest indication of will" is from late 15c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

beck

see at someone's beck and call.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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