beached, a. and pple.
(ˈbiːtʃɪd, biːtʃt)
[f. beach n. and v. + -ed.]
1. Having a beach; prob. also, in early use, Covered with ‘beach’ or shingle. beached-up.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 82 The beached margent of the sea. 1607 ― Timon v. i. 219 Timon hath made his euerlasting Mansion Vpon the Beached Verge of the salt Flood. 1889 Sci.-Gossip XXV. 162 The fossils..were not in good preservation, owing to the beached-up condition of the formation. |
2. Of a ship: Driven or dragged up on the beach.
| 1871 H. B. Forman Living Poets 392 Lying in the dark shadow of his beached Argo. Mod. The beached fishing-boats at Hastings. |
3. fig. Laid aside, discarded; unemployed (cf. beach n. 3 b).
| [1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 20 To be beached. To be turned adrift. Put out of employment. (Navy).] 1955 M. McCarthy Charmed Life (1956) i. 22 All the beached failures and second-raters of the twenties. 1962 J. Tunstall Fishermen xii. 259 Retired or ‘beached’ fishermen, as they forlornly call themselves. |