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birches

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birch

  [burch]
Use birches 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
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Birch Trees
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birch   (bûrch)   


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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.
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Word Origin & History

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
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