birch

[ burch ]
See synonyms for birch on Thesaurus.com
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.

  1. a birch rod, or a bundle of birch twigs, used especially for whipping.

adjective
verb (used with object)
  1. to beat or punish with or as if with a birch: The young ruffians were birched soundly by their teacher.

Origin of birch

1
before 900; Middle English birche,Old English birce; cognate with Old High German birka (German Birke); akin to Sanskrit bhūrja kind of birch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use birch in a sentence

  • Poor child,” thought Eric; “dear little Vernon: and he is to be flogged, perhaps birched, to-morrow.

    Eric, or Little by Little | Frederic W. Farrar
  • The three boys wandered away as far as Acle, eleven miles from Norwich, whence they were ignomimously brought back and birched.

    George Borrow and His Circle | Clement King Shorter
  • Take care of your book, cap, and gloves, or youll be birched on your bare bottom.

  • I hated this, and would rather have been birched secundum artem than to have seen the girls giggling at me.

    Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker | S. Weir Mitchell
  • The victims had first to go out into the woods to gather the branches with which later they were to be birched.

    The Hansa Towns | Helen Zimmern

British Dictionary definitions for birch

birch

/ (bɜːtʃ) /


noun
  1. any betulaceous tree or shrub of the genus Betula, having thin peeling bark: See also silver birch

  2. the hard close-grained wood of any of these trees

  1. the birch a bundle of birch twigs or a birch rod used, esp formerly, for flogging offenders

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or belonging to the birch

  2. consisting or made of birch

verb
  1. (tr) to flog with a birch

Origin of birch

1
Old English bierce; related to Old High German birihha, Sanskrit bhūrja

Derived forms of birch

  • birchen, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012