Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Nearby Entries
birch - 6 dictionary results
Home Improvement Loans
 Call Now Get Your Subprime Customers Financed In Minutes
 www.svcfin.com

birch

  [burch]
Use birch in a Sentence
–noun
1. any tree or shrub of the genus Betula, comprising species with a smooth, laminated outer bark and close-grained wood. Compare birch family.
2. the wood itself.
3. a birch rod, or a bundle of birch twigs, used esp. for whipping.
–adjective
4. birchen.
–verb (used with object)
5. to beat or punish with or as if with a birch: The young ruffians were birched soundly by their teacher.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME birche, OE birce; c. OHG birka (G Birke); akin to Skt bhūrja kind of birch
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To birch
birch   (bûrch)   


(click for larger image in new window)
n.  
    1. Any of various deciduous trees or shrubs of the genus Betula, native to the Northern Hemisphere and having unisexual flowers in catkins, alternate, simple, toothed leaves, and bark that often peels in thin papery layers.
    2. The hard, close-grained wood of any of these trees, used especially in furniture, interior finishes, and plywood.
  2. A rod from a birch, used to administer a whipping.
tr.v.   birched, birch·ing, birch·es
To whip with or as if with a birch.

[Middle English, from Old English birce; see bherəg- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Birch

Birch\ (b[~e]rch), n.; pl. Birches (-[e^]z). [OE. birche, birk, AS. birce, beorc; akin to Icel. bj["o]rk, Sw. bj["o]rk, Dan. birk, D. berk, OHG. piricha, MHG. birche, birke, G. birke, Russ. bereza, Pol. brzoza, Serv. breza, Skr. bh[=u]rja. [root]254. Cf. 1st Birk.]

1. A tree of several species, constituting the genus Betula; as, the white or common birch (B. alba) (also called silver birch and lady birch); the dwarf birch (B. glandulosa); the paper or canoe birch (B. papyracea); the yellow birch (B. lutea); the black or cherry birch (B. lenta).

2. The wood or timber of the birch.

3. A birch twig or birch twigs, used for flogging.

Note: The twigs of the common European birch (B. alba), being tough and slender, were formerly much used for rods in schools. They were also made into brooms.

The threatening twigs of birch. --Shak.

4. A birch-bark canoe.

Birch of Jamaica, a species (Bursera gummifera) of turpentine tree.

Birch partridge. (Zo["o]l.) See Ruffed grouse.

Birch wine, wine made of the spring sap of the birch.

Oil of birch. (a) An oil obtained from the bark of the common European birch (Betula alba), and used in the preparation of genuine (and sometimes of the imitation) Russia leather, to which it gives its peculiar odor. (b) An oil prepared from the black birch (B. lenta), said to be identical with the oil of wintergreen, for which it is largely sold.

Birch

Birch\, a. Of or pertaining to the birch; birchen.

Birch

Birch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Birched (b[~e]rcht); p. pr. & vb. n. Birching.] To whip with a birch rod or twig; to flog.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : birch
Spanish: abedul,
German: die Birke; Birken…,
Japanese: かばの木
More Translations »

birch 
O.E. beorc, from P.Gmc. *berkjon (O.S. birka, O.N. börk, Sw. björk, Du. berk, Ger. Birke), from PIE *bhergo (cf. Ossetian barz, O.C.S. breza, Lith. berzas, Skt. bhurjah, L. farnus, fraxinus "mountain ash"), from base *bhereg- "to gleam, white." Meaning "bunch of birch twigs used for flogging" (1648) led to verb meaning "to flog" (1830). Birch beer is 1883, Amer.Eng.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see birch on Thesaurus | Reference
Home Improvement Loans
 Call Now Get Your Subprime Customers Financed In Minutes
 www.svcfin.com