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REACH

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reach¹

  • /ɹiːt͡ʃ/

Sounds like reech · Rhymes with -iːtʃ

Where it comes from

From Middle English rechen, from Old English rǣċan (“to reach”), from Proto-West Germanic *raikijan, from Proto-Germanic *raikijaną, from the Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- (“to bind, reach”).

Cognate with Dutch reiken, German reichen.

verb reaches · reaching · reached · raught

  1. intransitive To extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand). He reached for a weapon that was on the table.
  2. transitive To give to someone by stretching out a limb, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another person; to hand over. to reach someone a book
  3. intransitive To stretch out the hand.
  4. transitive To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; to extend some part of the body, or something held, so as to touch, strike, grasp, etc. to reach an object with the hand, or with a spear
  5. transitive To strike or touch. His bullet reached its intended target.
  6. broadly, transitive To extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut. A few words, lovingly, encouragingly spoken failed to reach her heart.
  7. transitive To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent. his hand reaches the river
  8. transitive To arrive at (a place) by effort of any kind. After three years, he reached the position of manager.
  9. figuratively, transitive To make contact with. I tried to reach you all day.
  10. figuratively, transitive To connect with (someone) on an emotional level, making them receptive of (one); to get through to (someone). What will it take for me to reach him?
  11. India, Singapore, intransitive To arrive at a particular destination. The particulars that reach from Eastern Bengal require corroboration.
  12. transitive To continue living until or up to (a certain age). You can only access the inheritance money when you reach the age of 25.
  13. obsolete To understand; to comprehend. Do what, sir? I reach you not.
  14. To strain after something; to make (sometimes futile or pretentious) efforts. Reach for your dreams.
  15. intransitive To extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously (past, beyond, above, from etc. something). The Thembu tribe reaches back for twenty generations to King Zwide.
  16. To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
  17. Multicultural London English, slang To arrive at a particular destination, especially to join someone; to meet up. What time you reaching tomorrow?

noun reaches

  1. countable, uncountable The act of stretching or extending; extension.
  2. countable, uncountable The ability to reach or touch with the person, a limb, or something held or thrown. The fruit is beyond my reach.
  3. countable, uncountable The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity. Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended.
  4. countable, uncountable Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope. And on the left hand, hell, / With long reach, interposed.
  5. countable, informal, uncountable An exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch. To call George eloquent is certainly a reach.
  6. countable, uncountable The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.
  7. countable, uncountable Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.
  8. countable, uncountable The distance traversed between tacks.
  9. countable, uncountable A stretch of a watercourse which can be sailed in one reach (in the previous sense). An extended portion of water; a stretch; a straightish portion of a stream, river, or arm of the sea extending up into the land, as from one turn to another. By extension, the adjacent land. the gulfe Iasius, and all the coast thereof is very full of creekes and reaches.
  10. countable, uncountable A level stretch of a watercourse, as between rapids in a river or locks in a canal. (examples?)
  11. countable, uncountable An extended portion or area of land or water. Lower down, in a little reach of the lagoon there grew a clump of casuarinas, those timid isolates that withdraw from other trees, selecting their own privacy, which is for ever whispering secrets up in their feathery fronds, set in motion by the slightest breeze.
  12. countable, obsolete, uncountable An article to obtain an advantage. The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own, under hand, to cross the design.
  13. countable, uncountable The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon. They leaped ahead just as Ruth came to the side of the long reach that connected the small pair of front wheels with the huge wheels in the rear.

reach²

  • /ɹiːt͡ʃ/

Sounds like reech · Rhymes with -iːtʃ

verb reaches · reaching · reached

  1. alternative, dialectal, obsolete Alternative form of retch.retch

noun reaches

  1. alternative, dialectal, obsolete Alternative form of retch.retch

reach³

  • /ɹiːt͡ʃ/

Sounds like reech · Rhymes with -iːtʃ

Where it comes from

From Japanese 立直 (rīchi), from Chinese 立直 (lìzhí).

noun reaches

  1. Japanese, alternative Alternative form of riichi.riichi

REACH⁴

proper noun Reach

  1. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals.Registration A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which is responsible for the UK’s registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (UK Reach), said: “UK Reach allows the UK to make its own decisions on the regulation of chemicals that are based

Reach⁵

proper noun

  1. A village and civil parish in East Cambridgeshire district, Cambridgeshire, England (OS grid ref TL5666).
  2. A former township in the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, Canada, now part of the township of Scugog.

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