▪ I. ebb, n.
(ɛb)
Forms: 1 ebba, 4–6 ebbe, 7 eb, 7– ebb.
[OE. ebba = OFris. ebba, Du. ebbe, eb: the mod.G. ebbe, Da. ebbe, Sw. ebb, are not native in those langs., and Fr. èbe is, like other nautical terms, adopted from Eng. The ultimate etymology is uncertain: the OTeut. type might be *aƀjon-, f. the prep. aƀ off; or *eƀjon-, connected with Goth. ibuks backwards.]
1. The reflux of the tide; the return of tide-water towards the sea. Often in phrase ebb and flow; also tide of ebb, half-quarter-ebb.
| a 1000 Byrhtnoth 65 (Gr.) Þar com flowende flod æfter ebban. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1114 On þis ᵹeare wæs swa mycel ebba. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Langt. (1810) 106 Þe bodies..wer costen vpon þe sond, After an ebbe of þe flode. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 135 Ebbe of the see, refluxus, salaria. 1561 Eden Art. Navig. ii. xviii. 50 Whiche the Mariners call nepe tydes, lowe ebbs..or lowe fluddes. 1603 Drayton Bar. Warres i. xxxix, As Seuerne lately in her Ebbes that sanke. 1665 in Phil. Trans. I. 54 The Flood runs East..and the Ebb West. 1762 Borlase ibid. LII. 418 The sea advancing the first time to a quarter ebb; but the second advance was but as far as the sea reaches at half ebb. 1832 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man 69 During the freshets the ebb and flow are little felt. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxvii, We..made sail, stemming the last of the ebb. |
2. transf. and fig. A flowing away backward or downward; decline, decay; a change from a better to a worse state.
| c 1400 Test. Love i. (1560) 273/1 That sight..might all my welling sorrowes voide, and of the flood make an ebbe. 1555 Fardle Facions Ded. 1 Not coueting to make of my floudde, another manes ebbe. 1652 J. Hall Height Eloquence Introd. 20 This..was the Ebbe of his greatnesse. 1713 Addison Cato ii. v. 80 To shed the slow remains, His last poor ebb of blood, in your defence. 1823 Byron Island iii. iv, His faintness came..from..nature's ebb. 1870 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 279 Her ebbs and flows of passion. |
b. A point or condition of decline or depression, esp. in phrases to be at an ebb, at a low, lowest ebb. Also poet. of the eyes, at ebb: dry.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 435 Mine eyes (neuer since at ebbe) beheld..my Father wrack't. 1631 T. Powell Tom All Trades 142 The low water ebbe of the evill day. 1654 Warren Unbelievers 134 To make the Apostle reason at a very low ebbe. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. vii. 154 Private and public Virtue were at the lowest Ebb. 1798 in Bay Amer. Law Rep. (1809) I. 36 In 1780 money was at its lowest ebb. 1876 Green Short Hist. ix. (1878) 698 The fortunes of France reached their lowest ebb. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as ebb-tide, etc. Also ebb-sleeper, a bird; = dunlin.
| 1699 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Ebb-water, when there's but little Money in the Pocket. 1837 R. Dunn Ornith. Ork. & Shet. 87 Tringa Variabilis, Meyer. Ebb-sleeper, Dunlin. 1837 Marryat Dog-Fiend xxix, They were..swept out of the harbour by the strong ebb tide. 1849 Grote Greece (1862) V. ii. lxiii. 448 They began to feel as if the ebb-tide had reached its lowest point. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 65, I was introduced also, in our ebb excursions, to the cuttle-fish. |
† 4. [? f. the adj.] pl. Shallows.
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. I. 41/2 Brigantines with flat keeles to serve for the ebbes. |
5. [? a distinct word.] The Common Bunting, Emberiza miliaria. dial.
| 1802 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1833) 61. |
▪ II. † ebb, a. Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 5–7 eb, 6–7 ebbe, 6– ebb.
[app. evolved from the attrib. use of the n., as in ebb-tide.]
1. Of water, wells, etc.: Shallow, not deep. With of: Having a small supply, short. Also fig.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. iii. 47 Swlway was at þare passyng all Eb. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xi. 57 The ebber the water is, the swyfter it is. c 1581 J. Falkner in Eng. Mech. (1870) 4 Feb. 500/2 The water of Trent [was] dried up, and sodenly fallen so ebb. 1637 Rutherford Lett. xciv. I. 243 O, how ebb a soul have I to take in Christ's love! 1665–6 Phil. Trans. I. 165 When the water is drawn ebb from Fishes. 1693 Leighton Comm. 1 Peter v. 8 This Apostle..drew from too full a spring to be ebb of matter. 1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 23 Their Tide of Learning..is always ebb. |
b. transf. of a furrow; the sides of a vessel, etc.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §33 A meane forowe, not to depe nor to ebbe. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 185/1 A Grey⁓hound [is] Ebb, or Shallow chested..[when he hath] his breast & body all of a thickness. Ibid. iii. 320/1 It is a cooling Vessel..with ebb sides. 1733 P. Lindsay Interest Scotl. 149 Plowed with an ebb Furrow. 1880 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Will this dish do to make the fitchock pie in? No; it's too ebb. |
2. Near the surface; a. of the sea; b. of the land; also as quasi-adv.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 40 A multitude of fishes floted ebbs about it. Ibid. II. 29 Cumin..hath a qualitie to grow with the root very eb. 1608–11 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vowes ii. xiii. Whether I be drowned in the ebber shore or in the midst of the deepe sea. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 119 Sometimes it [marl] lyes so ebb..that they plow up the head of it. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. M iv b, If Ore be once discovered, and it lie Ebb and Soft. 1794 Bailiff's Diary in Shropsh. Word-bk., I am convinced that it is too ebb plow'd. |
▪ III. ebb, v.
(ɛb)
Forms: 1 ebbian, 2–5 ebben, 5–6 ebbe, 7– ebb.
[OE. ebbian, f. ebb n.; cf. OE. a-ebbian, be-ebbian to strand a ship; also OHG. fir-ebbita ‘deferbuerat’, and MHG. (rare—1) eppen to ebb.]
1. intr. To flow back or recede, as the water of the sea or a tidal river: frequent in phrase, to ebb and flow. Also with away, down, off, out.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. (Gr.) 1413 Lago ebbade sweart under sweᵹle. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 161 Þe sæ floweð and ebbeð. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1216 The se, aftir the tydes certayn, Ebbes and flowes. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 425 The se wes ebbit sa. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 223 The see wase ebbyd. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 216 The will ebbe and flow. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vi. 86 In some narrow seas the sea seauen times a day ebbs and flowes. 1721 Perry Daggenh. Breach 121 Ships..may lie afloat, and not have the Water ebb'd away from them. 1835 Sir J. Ross N.-W. Passage v. 59 The water might ebb another fathom. 1855 Maury Phys. Geog. ix. (1860) §429 The tides ebbed and flowed in it. |
b. transf. Of a ship: To sink with the tide. Of water: To sink lower. Of blood: To flow away.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1145 Ebben gan the well Of hir teares. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 421 Quhill that scho [the ship] ebbit on the ground. 1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. lvii, The water standing at a level, if a Globe be cast in..it presently Ebbeth. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. viii, [He] eyed The life-blood ebb in crimson tide. |
2. fig. To take a backward or downward course; to decay, decline; to fade or waste away. Also with away, down, off, out.
| a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4828 When that richesses ebben and abate. 1566 Drant Horace's Med. Morall To Rdr. 3 Helpyng hym to ebbe, and helpyng hym to rise. 1633 T. James Voy. 12 After full sea, our hopes ebde too. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 226 Kingly power, thus ebbing out. 1713 Young Last Day ii. 325 My passions ebb and flow At Thy command. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton x. (1840) 170 As my money declined, their respect would ebb with it. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. ix. 137 As his strength ebbed away. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. i. 29 My spirit's flood tide ebbeth more and more. |
3. trans. a. To hem in (fish) with stakes and nets so that they cannot go back to sea with the ebb-tide; see ebbing vbl. n. 2. b. To hem in (the tide) with sandbanks. c. (See quot. 1877.)
| 1827 Hardman Waterloo 12 Driving that sand along towards the sea shore, To ebb the tide fast in. 1877 Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.), Ebb, to gather fish-bait. So termed on account of its being done whilst the tide is ebbing. |