Library / English Dictionary

BIRCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A switch consisting of a twig or a bundle of twigs from a birch tree; used to hit people as punishment

Example:

my father never spared the birch

Synonyms:

birch; birch rod

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("birch" is a kind of...):

switch (a flexible implement used as an instrument of punishment)

Derivation:

birch (whip with a birch twig)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any betulaceous tree or shrub of the genus Betula having a thin peeling bark

Synonyms:

birch; birch tree

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("birch" is a kind of...):

tree (a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms)

Meronyms (substance of "birch"):

birch (hard close-grained wood of any of various birch trees; used especially in furniture and interior finishes and plywood)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "birch"):

Betula alleghaniensis; Betula leutea; yellow birch (tree of eastern North America with thin lustrous yellow or grey bark)

American white birch; Betula cordifolia; Betula papyrifera; canoe birch; paper birch; paperbark birch (small American birch with peeling white bark often worked into e.g. baskets or toy canoes)

American gray birch; American grey birch; Betula populifolia; gray birch; grey birch (medium-sized birch of eastern North America having white or pale grey bark and valueless wood; occurs often as a second-growth forest tree)

Betula pendula; common birch; European white birch; silver birch (European birch with silvery white peeling bark and markedly drooping branches)

Betula pubescens; downy birch; white birch (European birch with dull white to pale brown bark and somewhat drooping hairy branches)

Betula nigra; black birch; red birch; river birch (birch of swamps and river bottoms throughout the eastern United States having reddish-brown bark)

Betula lenta; black birch; cherry birch; sweet birch (common birch of the eastern United States having spicy brown bark yielding a volatile oil and hard dark wood used for furniture)

Betula neoalaskana; Yukon white birch (Alaskan birch with white to pale brown bark)

Betula fontinalis; mountain birch; swamp birch; water birch; Western birch; Western paper birch (birch of western United States resembling the paper birch but having brownish bark)

American dwarf birch; Betula glandulosa; Newfoundland dwarf birch (small shrub of colder parts of North America and Greenland)

Holonyms ("birch" is a member of...):

Betula; genus Betula (a genus of trees of the family Betulaceae (such as birches))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hard close-grained wood of any of various birch trees; used especially in furniture and interior finishes and plywood

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("birch" is a kind of...):

wood (the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees)

Holonyms ("birch" is a substance of...):

birch; birch tree (any betulaceous tree or shrub of the genus Betula having a thin peeling bark)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Consisting of or made of wood of the birch tree

Synonyms:

birch; birchen; birken

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

woody (made of or containing or resembling wood)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Whip with a birch twig

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "birch" is one way to...):

flog; lash; lather; slash; strap; trounce; welt; whip (beat severely with a whip or rod)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to birch the prisoners

Derivation:

birch (a switch consisting of a twig or a bundle of twigs from a birch tree; used to hit people as punishment)

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