Beach

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /bitʃ/
• RP IPA: /biːtʃ/Rhymes: -iːtʃ
• Homophones: beech

Origin

From Middle English bache, bæcche ("bank, sandbank"), from Old English bæċe, beċe ("beck, brook, stream"), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz ("brook"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰog- ("flowing water"). Cognate with Dutch beek ("brook, stream"), German Bach ("brook, stream"), Swedish bäck ("stream, brook, creek"). More at batch, beck.

Full definition of beach

Noun

1. The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path …. It twisted and turned,...and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.
2. A horizontal strip of land, usually sandy, adjoining water.
• 1988, Robert Ferro, Second Son, Up and down, the beach lay empty for miles.
3. (UK dialectal, Sussex, Kent) The loose pebbles of the seashore, especially worn by waves; shingle.

Synonyms

• (shore, especially when sandy)
• (horizontal strip of land adjoining water) sand, strand, backshore

Derived terms

• beach break
• beach volleyball
• beachball
• beachberry
• beachboy
• beachcast
• beachcomber
• beachfront
• beach flea
• beachgrass
• beachline
• beach wagon

Verb

1. To run (something) aground on a beach.

Synonyms

• strand

Derived terms

• unbeached