ebb

See also: -ebb

English

Alternative forms

• ebbe

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĕb, IPA^(key): /ɛb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛb

Etymology 1

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

ebb (plural ebbs)

1. The receding movement of the tide.

   The boats will go out on the ebb.

   • 1824, Mary Shelley, Time:

     Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     Men come from distant parts to admire the tides of Solway, which race in at flood and retreat at ebb with a greater speed than a horse can follow.

2. A gradual decline.
   • 1684, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, Essay on Translated Verse:

     Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

     This reflection thawed my congealing blood, and again the tide of life and love flowed impetuously onward, again to ebb as my busy thoughts changed.

   • 2012, James Howard Kunstler, Too Much Magic, page 74:

     Industrialism hasn’t been an abiding set of activities in any particular place but rather a dynamic cycle, of takeoff, peak, and ebb.

3. (especially in the phrase 'at a low ebb') A low state; a state of depression.
   • 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:

     Painting was then at its lowest ebb.

   • 2002, Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 22 & 29 April

     A "lowest ebb" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "ebb" might easily have lasted for years.

   • 2020 July 29, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railways that reach out over the waves”, in Rail, page 51:

     The 1987 book British Piers was written at a time when Britain's seaside resorts were perhaps at their lowest ebb, with a groundswell of support for rejuvenation and conservation just beginning.

4. A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).

Antonyms

• flood
• flow

Derived terms

• at a low ebb
• ebb and flow
• ebb tide

Related terms

• neap
• tide

Translations

receding movement of the tide

• Bulgarian: отлив (bg) m (otliv)
• Catalan: reflux m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 退潮 (zh) (tuìcháo), 落潮 (zh) (luòcháo)

• Czech: odliv (cs) m
• Danish: ebbe (da) c
• Dutch: eb (nl) f
• Esperanto: forfluo
• Finnish: luode (fi), laskuvesi (fi)
• French: reflux (fr) m, jusant (fr) m
• Galician: devalo m, refluxo m, vazante f
• Georgian: მიქცევა (mikceva), მიქცევის დინება (mikcevis dineba), ზღვის მიქცევა (zɣvis mikceva)
• German: Ebbe (de) f
• Hungarian: apály (hu)
• Irish: aife f, trá m

  Old Irish: aithbe f or n

• Italian: riflusso m
• Middle English: ebbe
• Persian: جزر (fa) (jazr)
• Polish: odpływ (pl) m
• Portuguese: vazante (pt) f, refluxo m
• Romanian: reflux (ro) n
• Russian: отли́в (ru) m (otlív)
• Spanish: reflujo (es) m, marea (es) f
• Swedish: ebb (sv) c
• Ukrainian: відпли́в m (vidplýv)
• Welsh: trai m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "Originally glossed as "low tide" but this is not one of the given definitions of ebb. Please check for applicability to "receding movement of the tide""

• Armenian: ^{(please verify)} տեղատվություն (hy) (teġatvutʻyun)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} refluo, ^{(please verify)} malfluso
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} baixamar (gl) f
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ზღვის მიქცევა (zɣvis mikceva)
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} fjære (no)
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} baixa-mar (pt) f, ^{(please verify)} maré baixa f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} marea baja f, ^{(please verify)} bajamar (es) f
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} cezir (tr)
• West Frisian: ^{(please verify)} ebba c

Adjective

ebb (comparative ebber, superlative ebbest)

1. low, shallow
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, →OCLC:

     All the sea lying betweene, is verie ebbe, full of shallowes and shelves

Etymology 2

From Middle English ebben, from Old English ebbian, from Proto-West Germanic *abbjōn (“to ebb”).

Verb

ebb (third-person singular simple present ebbs, present participle ebbing, simple past and past participle ebbed)

1. (intransitive) to flow back or recede

   Synonyms: go out, go down

   The tides ebbed at noon.

2. (intransitive) to fall away or decline

   The dying man's strength ebbed away.

3. (intransitive) to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
4. (transitive) To cause to flow back.
   • 1977 August 20, Robin Nicholson, quotee, “7 Arrested in Undercover Raid on P'town Bar”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 1:

     Parts of this town do not want a big influx of gay people and are trying to ebb it.

Synonyms

• ebb away, ebb down, ebb off, ebb out, reflux, wane

Translations

to fall away or decline

• Bulgarian: спадам (bg) (spadam)
• Catalan: baixar (ca), retirar-se (ca), refluir (ca) (la marea)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 減退／减退 (gaam² teoi³)

• Dutch: wegebben (nl)
• French: refluer (fr), décliner (fr)
• Galician: vazar, devalar (gl)
• Georgian: დაკნინება (daḳnineba), დაქვეითება (dakveiteba), რეგრესი (regresi)
• German: ebben (de), abebben (de)
• Greek: άμπωτη (el) f (ámpoti)
• Hungarian: apad (hu), hanyatlik (hu), fogy (hu), fogyatkozik (hu), gyengül (hu)
• Irish: tráigh
• Maori: heke (of the tide), tāwhati, keketu (of the tide), timu (of the tide), tiremi (of the tide)
• Middle English: ebben
• Portuguese: vazar (pt), refluir (pt)
• Russian: ослабевать (ru) (oslabevatʹ)
• Swedish: ebba (sv)

Anagrams

• BBE

Swedish

Etymology

From Dutch or German Ebbe.

Noun

ebb c

1. ebb, low tide

   Synonym: lågvatten

   Antonyms: flod, högvatten

Declension

Declension of ebb
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ebb	ebben	—	—
Genitive	ebbs	ebbens	—	—

See also

• tidvatten (“tide”)

References

• ebb in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ebb in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ebb in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)