Beck Meaning
/ˈbɛk/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA stream or small river.
nounA significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.
Sentence Examples
She has him at her beck and call.
At the best hotels, there is always someone at your beck and call.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The director gave a quick ____ with his finger, beckoning the child to come closer.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children were playing by the small ____ that ran through the woods city.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…]Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie sets / The Bourns, the Brooks, the Becks, the Rills, the Rivilets[…]"
— 1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 1, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 3:
"[…] the sky is blue, and the larks are singing, and the becks and brooks are all brim full."
— 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
"This is the boundary at Earnleie: First from Earesbrook and [qu. to] the short thorns, […] and from the tree to Tudelesbeck, along the beck to the Severn, up along the Severn to Leofric's boundary, […]"
— 1908, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, page 107:
"Beck water cold and clear, will never clean your wound"
— 1976, Archie Fisher, “The Witch Of The West-Mer-Lands”, in The Man With A Rhyme, Sharon, CT: Folk Legacy Records:
"The beck is crossed by a pretty ford and a number of bridges, and in spring the cottages look out over a dancing sea of daffodils."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 102:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The director gave a quick ____ with his finger, beckoning the child to come closer.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children were playing by the small ____ that ran through the woods city.