beck

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See also: Beck, béck, and -beck

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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beck (plural becks)

  1. (Norfolk, Northern England) A stream or small river.
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Etymology 2

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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

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beck (plural becks)

  1. A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.
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Verb

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beck (third-person singular simple present becks, present participle becking, simple past and past participle becked)

  1. (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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
      When gold and silver becks me to come on.
    • 1896, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Winter Evening Tales[1]:
      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[2]:
      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

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See back.

Noun

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beck (plural becks)

  1. A vat.

Etymology 4

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From Middle English bec, bek, from Old French bec (beak).

Noun

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beck (plural becks)

  1. Obsolete form of beak.
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Portuguese

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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beck m (plural becks)

  1. Alternative spelling of beque

Swedish

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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beck n

  1. pitch (a dark, extremely viscous material still remaining after distilling crude oil and tar)

Declension

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References

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