Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
beck. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
beck, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
beck in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
beck you have here. The definition of the word
beck will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
beck, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English bek, bekk, becc, from Old English bæc, bec, bæċe, beċe (“beck, brook”), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“stream”).
Cognate with Old Norse bekkr (“a stream or brook”), Low German bek, beck, German Bach, Dutch beek, Swedish bäck, Doublet of batch. More at beach.
Noun
beck (plural becks)
- (Norfolk, Northern English dialect) A stream or small river.
1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 1, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, , London: H L for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC, page 3:[…] Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie sets / The Bourns, the Brooks, the Becks, the Rills, the Rivilets […]
1976, Archie Fisher (lyrics and music), “The Witch Of The West-Mer-Lands”, in The Man With A Rhyme, Sharon, CT: Folk Legacy Records:Beck water cold and clear, will never clean your wound
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English bekken, a shortened form of Middle English bekenen, from Old English bēcnan, bēacnian (“to signify; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *baukn, from Proto-Germanic *baukną (“beacon”). More at beacon.
Noun
beck (plural becks)
- A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.
c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 147, column 2:Ah, knovv you not the Citie fauours them, / And they haue troupes of Souldiers at their beck?
1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. , volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, , →OCLC:The dog obeyed the significant beck of his finger, and they drew off, stealthily, together.
Derived terms
Translations
significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command
Verb
beck (third-person singular simple present becks, present participle becking, simple past and past participle becked)
- (archaic) To nod or motion with the head.
c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :When gold and silver becks me to come on.
1896, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Winter Evening Tales:I'll buy so many acres of old Scotland and call them by the Lockerby's name; and I'll have nobles and great men come bowing and becking to David Lockerby as they do to Alexander Gordon.
1881, Various, The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III:The becking waiter, that with wreathed smiles, wont to spread for Samuel and Bozzy their "supper of the gods," has long since pocketed his last sixpence; and vanished, sixpence and all, like a ghost at cock-crowing.
Etymology 3
See back.
Noun
beck (plural becks)
- A vat.
Etymology 4
From Middle English bec, bek, from Old French bec (“beak”).
Noun
beck (plural becks)
- Obsolete form of beak.
Derived terms
Portuguese
Pronunciation
Noun
beck m (plural becks)
- Alternative spelling of beque
Swedish
Etymology
From Old Norse bik, from Middle Low German pik, from Old Saxon pik, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. See also Dutch pek, German Pech.
Pronunciation
Noun
beck n
- pitch; A dark, extremely viscous material remaining in still after distilling crude oil and tar.
Declension
Declension of beck
|
|
Uncountable
|
|
Indefinite
|
Definite
|
|
|
Nominative
|
beck
|
becket
|
—
|
—
|
Genitive
|
becks
|
beckets
|
—
|
—
|
Related terms
References