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birchest

 - 2 dictionary results

birch

  [burch]
Use birchest 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.
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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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