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beck

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small brook; a creek.
  • noun A gesture of beckoning or summons.
  • idiom (at (someone's) beck and call) Ready to comply with any wish or command.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A brook; a small stream; especially, a brook with a stony bed or rugged course.
  • noun The valley of a beck; a field or patch of ground adjacent to a brook. See batch.
  • To signal by a nod or other significant gesture; beckon.
  • To recognize a person by a slight bow or nod.
  • To summon or intimate some command or desire to by a nod or gesture; beckon to.
  • To express by a gesture: as, to beck thanks.
  • noun A nod of the head or other significant gesture intended to be understood as expressive of a desire, or as a sign of command.
  • noun A gesture of salutation or recognition; a bow; a courtesy.
  • noun An agricultural implement with two hooks, used in dressing turnips, etc.; a form of mattock.
  • noun A beak.
  • noun Any pointed or projecting part of the dress, especially of a head-dress, as of the bycocket.
  • noun A vat or vessel used in a dye-house; a back.
  • noun Same as beck-harman.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete See beak.
  • transitive verb Archaic To notify or call by a nod, or a motion of the head or hand; to intimate a command to.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To nod, or make a sign with the head or hand.
  • noun A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, esp. as a call or command.
  • noun A vat. See back.
  • noun A small brook.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Norfolk, Northern England A stream or small river.
  • noun A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.
  • verb archaic To nod or motion with the head.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a beckoning gesture

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old Norse bekkr; see bhegw- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bek, from bekken, to beckon, alteration of bekenen; see beckon.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse bekkr ("a stream or brook"). Cognate with German Bach. More at beach.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A shortened form of beckon, from Old English bēcnan, from Proto-Germanic *bauknan (“beacon”).

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Examples

Comments

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  • fbharjo commented on the word beck

    beck in the sense of a small, steep brook or stream

    January 16, 2007

  • slumry commented on the word beck

    and a gesture used to summon someone

    July 18, 2007

  • treeseed commented on the word beck

    Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

    noun

    Etymology: Middle English bek, from Old Norse bekkr; akin to Old English bæc brook, Old High German bah

    Date: 14th century

    British : creek

    "Oh, dear, if I was but a little chap in Vendale again, to see the clear beck, and the apple-orchard, and the yew-hedge, how different I would go on!"

    _Water Babies - Charles Kingsley, 1937

    January 31, 2008

  • Gammerstang commented on the word beck

    (verb) - (1) To curtzy by a female, as contradistinguished from bowing in the other sex. From Icelandic beiga, to bow.

    --John Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, 1825

    (2) Of a horse, to nod or jerk the head.

    --Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 1898-1905

    (3) To make a mute signal, as by nodding, shaking the forefinger, etc.

    --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1888

    January 15, 2018