Definition
nounThe shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly.
nounA horizontal strip of land, usually sandy, adjoining water.
Sentence Examples
I was planning on going to the beach today, but then it started to rain.
I live near the sea, so I often get to go to the beach.
I had no idea the beach was so close.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.
Proto-Germanic *bakiz
Proto-West Germanic *baki
Old English bæċ
Middle English bache
English beach
From Middle English bache, bæcche (“bank, sandbank”), from Old English beċe (“beck, brook, stream”), from Proto-West Germanic *baki, from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“brook”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“flowing water”).
Cognates
Cognate with Cimbrian pach (“brook, creek, stream”), Dutch beek (“brook, stream”), German Bach (“brook, stream”), German Low German Beek (“brook, stream”), Luxembourgish Baach (“brook, stream”), Mòcheno pòch (“brook, creek, stream”), Vilamovian bāh, baoch (“brook, stream”), Danish bæk (“brook”), Icelandic bekkur (“creek, spring, stream”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk bekk (“brook, creek, stream”), Swedish bäck (“brook, creek, stream”); also Lithuanian banga (“billow, wave”). More at batch, beck.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"Up and down, the beach lay empty for miles."
— 1988, Robert Ferro, Second Son:
"I never realised Lincoln was a seaside town. BRIAN LAWS Scunthorpe manager, after losing on a liberally sanded beach of a pitch"
— 2008, Phil Shaw, The Book of Football Quotations, page 415:
"The series was brought to an ironic conclusion when England became hoist by their own petard, as they lost the deciding final Test on a 'beach' of a wicket. Neither side batted well."
— 2012, Tim Quelch, Bent Arms & Dodgy Wickets:
"When we finally beached, the land was scarcely less wet than the sea."
— 1941, Emily Carr, “Salt Water”, in Klee Wyck: