ebb
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ebb¹
- /ɛb/
Rhymes with -ɛb
Where it comes from
From Middle English ebbe, from Old English ebba (“ebb, tide”), from Proto-West Germanic *abbjā, from Proto-Germanic *abjô, *abjǭ, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“off, away”), from Proto-Indo-European *apó.
See also West Frisian ebbe, Dutch eb, German Ebbe, Danish ebbe, Old Norse efja (“countercurrent”), Old English af. More at of, off.
noun ebbs · ebbe
- The receding movement of the tide. The boats will go out on the ebb.
- A gradual decline. Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.
- A low state; a state of depression. Painting was then at its lowest ebb.
- A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).
adjective ebber · ebbest · ebbe
- low, shallow All the sea lying betweene, is verie ebbe, full of shallowes and shelves
ebb²
- /ɛb/
Rhymes with -ɛb
Where it comes from
From Middle English ebben, from Old English ebbian, from Proto-West Germanic *abbjōn (“to ebb”).
verb ebbs · ebbing · ebbed · ebbe
- to flow back or recede The tides ebbed at noon.
- to fall away or decline The dying man's strength ebbed away.
- to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
- To cause to flow back. Parts of this town do not want a big influx of gay people and are trying to ebb it.
