▪ I. perch, n.1
(pɜːtʃ)
Forms: 4–6 perche, 7–8 pearch, 7– perch.
[a. F. perche:—L. perca (Pliny), a. Gr. πέρκη: cf. περκνός dark-coloured, περκάζειν to become dark.]
1. a. A common spiny-finned freshwater fish (Perca fluviatilis) of Europe and the British Isles, the flesh of which is used as food. Hence extended to the other species of Perca, as the common yellow perch of N. America (P. americana or flavescens), or to the family Percidæ in general. (Pl. now rare, the collective singular being used instead, as with other names of fishes.)
| 13.. K. Alis. 5446 Fleiȝeyng foules blake,..of perches and of savmouns, Token and eten grete foysouns. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 423 In þe oþer [pond] is perche and trouȝtis. 1496 Bk. St. Albans, Fishing (1883) 28 The perche is a daynteuous fysshe & passynge holsom. a 1552 Leland Itin. V. 70 Good Pikes, and Perches in greate Numbre. 1653 Walton Angler ix. 179 The Pearch..is one of the fishes of prey, that, like the Pike and Trout, carries his teeth in his mouth. 1704 Pope Windsor For. 142 The bright-ey'd perch with fins of Tyrian dye. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 296 Within the mill-head there the perch feed fat. |
b. Applied on the Pacific coast of the United States to any fish of the viviparous family Embiotocidæ or surf-fishes; also locally to various other fishes, usually with qualifying word (see 2).
| 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish N.S. Wales 31 Lates colonorum, the perch of the colonists..really a fresh⁓water fish, but..often brought to the Sydney market from Broken Bay and other salt-water estuaries... The perch of the Ganges and other East Indian rivers (L. calcarifer)..extends to the rivers of Queensland. Ibid. 45 The..genus Chilodactylus is..largely represented in Tasmania and Victoria, one species being commonly imported from Hobart Town in a smoked and dried state under the name of ‘perch’. 1890 Cent. Dict. s.v. Embiotocidæ, Nearly all are marine, abounding on the Pacific coast of the United States, where they are among the inferior food-fishes, and are called perches, porgies, shiners, etc. |
2. With qualifying word, applied (chiefly locally) to various fishes of the family Percidæ, and to some of other families, resembling the common perch or taking its place as food.
black perch, a name for dark-coloured species of Centropristis, also called black bass; also for various other dark-coloured fishes allied to or resembling the common perch; blue perch, (a) the burgall or cunner (Ctenolabrus adspersus, family Labridæ); (b) a Californian surf-fish, Ditrema laterale (family Embiotocidæ); buffalo-perch, (a) the freshwater drum, Haplodinotus grunniens, family Sciænidæ (see drum n.1 11); (b) a buffalo-fish, Ictiobus bubalus, family Catostomidæ (see buffalo n. 2, 5); grunting perch = buffalo-perch (a) ; pearl-perch: see quot. 1898; red perch, (a) the rose-fish Sebastes marinus of the North Atlantic; (b) in Australia and Tasmania, species of Anthias; (c) in California, Hypsipops rubicundus; sea-perch, (a) a fish of the genus Labrax, a bass; (b) a fish of the genus Serranus or family Serranidæ; (c) = red perch; (d) = blue perch (a); tiny perch, a fish of the family Elassomidæ, very small freshwater fishes of the Southern United States; white perch, (a) Morone americana, family Labracidæ; (b) a local name of the Buffalo-perch (a); (c) various species of the Embiotocidæ (see 1 b); yellow perch, the common perch of North America (see 1). See also golden perch, grey p., log p., magpie p., etc.
| 1611 Cotgr., Perche de mer, the sea Pearch; a wholesome, rough-find, and tonguelesse, rocke-fish. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 214 The Sea-perch... The head with honey helps pustules, &c. 1729 in Dampier's Voy. (ed. 3) III. ii. 415 The Red-listed Pearch. Is good to eat. 1818 Rafinesque Let. 20 July in Jordan N. Amer. Ichthyol. (1877) 13 Red Perch. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 423/1 Centropristes nigricans, one of the species known by the name of the black-perch or black-bass, is abundant in the rivers of the United States. 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. v. 47 He..Saw the yellow perch, the Sahwa, Like a sunbeam in the water. 1860 Blue perch [see burgall]. 1879 Goode Fisheries U.S. 34 Sebastes Marinus,..Norway Haddock; Hemdurgan; Red Perch.—Polar Seas and South to Cape Cod. 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish N.S. Wales 48 Sebastes percoides... In Victoria it is called the Red Gurnet perch. 1883 E. P. Ramsay Food Fishes N.S. Wales 35 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) The most important of our freshwater fishes are..the two species of the Murray Cod (Oligorus), the Golden Perch (Ctenolates), 2 species, the Silver Perch and MacLeay's Perch (Therapon), the River Perch (Lates), 2 species. 1898 Morris Austral Eng., Black-Perch, a river fish of New South Wales, Therapon niger, family Percidæ. Ibid., Fresh-water Perch, name given in Tasmania to the fish Microperca tasmaniæ. Ibid., Murray-Perch, a fresh-water fish, Oligorus mitchelli, closely allied to..the Murray-Cod. Ibid., Pearl-Perch, a rare marine fish of New South Wales, excellent for food, Glaucosoma scapulare, family Percidæ. Ibid., Sea-Perch, a name applied..in Sydney, to the Morwong [Chilodactylus], and Bull's-eye [Priacanthus macracanthus]; in New Zealand and Melbourne, to Red-Gurnard [Sebastes percoides]. |
3. Comb., as perch-like, perch-shaped adjs.; perch-backed, a., resembling in shape a perch's back; perch-hole, a hole in which perch are found; perch-pest, a crustacean parasite of the perch; † perch-stone: see quot. 1658.
| 1658 Phillips, The Perch-stone, a white stone found in the head of a Perch. 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. Index, Perch-pest. [Cf. p. 31, Pest of the Perch..takes its station usually within the mouth, fixing itself, by means of its sucker, in the cellular membrane.] 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 432/1 Perch-like fishes whose operculum is produced behind. 1872 Evans Anc. Stone Implements xxiv. 567 Lunate and perch-backed implements..are very scarce. 1883 E. P. Ramsay Food Fishes N.S. Wales 9 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) A more important fish..is a fine perch-shaped Glaucosoma,..named G. scapulare. 1906 Macm. Mag. June 574 Agatha by the side of the perch-hole, very erect, with a still more erect fishing-rod, surprised by the..angler. |
▪ II. perch, n.2
(pɜːtʃ)
Forms: 3–6 perche, 6 pearche, 6–8 pearch, 7 peerch, 5– perch. See also perk n.1
[a. F. perche (13th c. in Littré) = Pr. perja, perga, Cat. perca, Sp. percha, It. pertica:—L. pertica pole, long staff, measuring-rod.]
I. 1. a. A pole, rod, stick, or stake, used for various purposes, e.g. for a weapon, a prop, etc. Obs. or dial. in gen. sense.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 273/78 Cristofre bi-side þulke watere..In his hond a long perche he bar, is staf as þei it were. Ȝwane any man wolde ouer þat watur, opon is rug he him caste And tok is perche and bar him ouer. [1419 Liber Albus iii. ii. (Rolls) I. 260 Item, si ascun perche dascune taverner soit pluis large, ou soi pluis extendent que nest ordeigne.] c 1440 Promp. Parv. 393/1 Perche, or perke, pertica. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. lix. 399 The tame Hoppe..windeth it selfe about poles and perches. 1600 Holland Livy i. xxxv. 26 Scaffolds born up twelue foot high from the ground with forked perches or props. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Willow, Within two years they will be gallant Perches. 1902 Contemp. Rev. Dec. 839 The men knock the fruit from the trees with long poles and perches. |
† b. A heavy staff used in fulling or walking cloth by hand. Obs.
| [1350–75: see perk n.1 1 b.] 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 409 Þe Iewes stened þis Iames..and..smyte out his brayn wiþ a walkere his perche [L. pertica fullonis]. |
c. A pole set up in a shallow or other special place in the sea, a river, etc., to serve as a mark for navigation.
| 1465 [see perch money in 6]. 1672 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 308 A Perch at the lower end of the Key. 1683 Ibid., Wee order that the Perch bee..sett upp at the blacke rocke. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3781/4 A Perch..with a white Brush upon it. 1858 Merc. Marine Mag. V. 175 There is a Bright Tide Light, and two perches on the western side. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. v. (ed. 2) 139 Perches with balls, cages, &c. will..be at turning points. |
d. The centre pole by which the hinder carriage is connected to the fore-carriage in wagons and in some kinds of coaches and other four-wheeled vehicles.
| 1668–9 Pepys Diary 6 Feb., The bolt broke that holds the forewheels to the perch, and so the horses went away with them, and left the coachman and us. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. ii. i, Crack! went the Perch! Down goes the Coach! 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 45 Sometimes the perch is made of a bent form, called a compass perch. 1863 Q. Rev. CXIV. 313 It is difficult for us to understand how a four-wheeled plaustrum, without a perch, was ever coaxed round a curve—how it turned nobody knows. |
II. 2. a. A bar fixed horizontally to hang something upon; a peg.; = perk n.1 2. Obs. or Hist.
| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 225 A mantyl henge hir fast by, Upon a perche, weike and smalle. c 1391 ― Astrol. ii. §23 Thow most haue a plomet hanging on a lyne heyer than thin heued on a perche. c 1440 Gesta Rom. ix. 24 (Harl. MS.) [She] hongyd it vp on a perche in hire chambir. 1538 Elyot Dict., Petiolus, a lytle foote: also a perche whereon frutes or onyons be hanged. 1860 Weale Dict. Terms, Perch, a small projecting beam, corbel, or bracket, near the altar of a church. 1871 Kingsley At Last xi, A ‘perch’ for hanging clothes..just such as would have been seen in a mediæval house in England. |
† b. A bar to support a candle or candles, esp. as an altar-light: cf. percher2 and perk n.1 2 b.
| [1302 Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls) III. 47 Pertica, super quam ponuntur cerei et candelæ.] 1499, 1532–3 [see perch-candle in 6]. 1565 J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse 140 b, My Lord Maior hath a perch to set on hys perchers when hys gesse be at supper. |
c. Theatr. A platform from which lights are directed on to the front of the stage; pl., the lights placed on this platform.
| 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage i. 18 The stops controlling the amber circuits in No. 1 batten, floats, and P. and O.P. perches slide up to full. Ibid. vii. 90 ‘What's in your perches?’ ‘Ambers, sir.’ 1934 A. P. Herbert Holy Deadlock 215 From time to time he gave a quiet order to an invisible person called Joe about Batten Number One, about a border or a perch, a flat or the floats. 1957 Oxf. Compan. Theatre (ed. 2) 472/2 The mobility of the bridge is allied in control with the ‘perches’ or ladder-type boomerangs, which can be moved on or off stage according to the width of the scene. Ibid. 474/2 The spot batten and perches will, when a cyclorama is used, illuminate adequately the acting area to within a certain distance of the cyclorama. 1959 Rae & Southern Internat. Vocab. Techn. Theatre Terms 58 Perch, platform for tormentor spot. 1967 Punch 16 Aug. 242/3 For Figaro and Verdi's Macbeth.., John Christie had to bring in a lighting bridge and sixty floods and perches from Glyndebourne. |
3. a. A bar fixed horizontally for a hawk or tame bird to rest upon.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1346 What haukes sitten on the perche aboue. ― Nun's Pr. T. 64 As Chauntecleer among hise wyues alle Sat on his perche that was in the halle. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxii. 241 [Ther] ben sett upon a perche 4 or 5 or 6 gerfacouns. 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 115 So neare that they maye sit close togyther on the pearche. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 504 The pearches whereon they set their Canarie birds, which else would be killed by Pismires. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 340 Standing upright upon the perch like a sparrow-hawk. 1852 R. F. Burton Falconry Vall. Indus vi. 64 She is placed, unhooded, on her perch. Note, The perch is a round rod projecting from the wall, garnished with cloth, which hangs beneath it like a towel. |
b. Anything serving for a bird to alight or rest upon; also transf. for anything, or for a person. to take one's perch: to perch, to alight. peck and perch: see peck n.3 3.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. xvi, A Faucon came fleynge..and she flewe vnto the elme to take her perche. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 156 She flyeth vp to a perche or braunche of a tree, and after her maner she syngeth full swetely. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. i. 4 We must not make a scar-crow of the Law,..let it keepe one shape, till custome make it Their pearch, and not their terror. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 11 Some Boobyes, weary of flight, made our Ship their pearch. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxvii. 269 The tides rose over it, and the waves washed against it continually, but it gave a perfectly safe perch to our little boats. 1877 Bryant Odyssey v. 405 The sea-nymph took her perch On the well-banded raft. |
c. fig. An elevated or secure position or station. (Often with direct allusion to a bird's perch.)
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 b, Euen so man..may..flye vp neuer so hye..from perche to perche, from pleasure to pleasure, from honour to honour. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 87 Never did the Prerogative descend so much from perch to popular lure, as by that concession [of the Petition of Right]. 1818 Keats Endym. iii. 14 They proudly mount To their spirit's perch. 1884 Pae Eustace 63 It gives me a lift to the perch that I'd long had an eye for. |
d. colloq. A small seat on a vehicle, usually elevated, for the driver, or for a livery servant.
| 1841 Lever C. O'Malley cviii, The postilion was obliged to drive from what (Hibernicè speaking) is called the perch, no ill-applied denomination to a piece of wood which about the thickness of one's arm, is hung between the two fore⁓springs and serves as a resting-place. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Perch..(Vehicle)..An elevated seat for the driver. |
e. In fig. phrases (colloq. or slang). to throw, turn, etc., over the perch, to knock off one's perch, etc.: to upset, vanquish, ruin, ‘do for’, put an end to, be the death or destruction of; also in weakened senses: to disconcert, humiliate, snub; to come (or get) off one's perch: to climb down, to adopt a less arrogant or condescending manner.
So to tip over the perch, hop the perch, etc.: to be ruined or vanquished; to die. cannot flutter above the perch (quot. 1649): said of a young bird, hence of an inexperienced or ignorant person. to peak or peck over the perch: see peak v.1 1 b.
| [a 1529: see perk n.1 3 b.] 1568 U. Fulwell Like Will to Like E iij, Charged to make privy serche, So that if we may be got, we shalbe throwen ouer the perche. 1587 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 400 Some drugge that should make men pitch over the perch. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 17 It was inough if a fat man did but trusse his points, to turne him ouer the pearch [in the sweating sicknes]. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, clx, As yet some cannot flutter 'boue the Perch. 1702 T. Brown Lett. fr. Dead Wks. 1760 II. 237 For fear when I am once got into the grave, the grim tyrant should give me a turn over the perch, and keep me there. 1737 Ozell Rabelais iii. Prol. 15 Either through Negligence, or for want of ordinary Sustenance, they both tipt over the Perch. 1791 C. Smith Celestina (ed. 2) I. 132 The old girl must hop the perch soon. 1822 Scott Pirate xl, Such a consummate idiot as to hop the perch so sillily. 1864 Athenæum 22 Oct. 523/3 Lord John Russell..took the Dean off his perch. 1896 Dialect Notes I. 421 ‘Come off your perch,’ stop being fresh. 1900 ‘Flynt’ & ‘Walton’ Powers that Prey 238 ‘It's up to you to do the talking... All I've got to do is just to sit quiet.’.. ‘Sure! I'll say it fast enough. But you can come off your perch just the same.’ 1915 Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Diary 24 Mar. (1971) 60 The American said: ‘What you've first got to do is to come off your perch—and listen to what we want...’ The great man gave in and got off his perch. a 1916 ‘Saki’ in Coll. Short Stories (1930) 316 Mrs. Quabari, to use a colloquial expression, was knocked off her perch. 1923 G. McKnight Eng. Words iv. 65 Stop crowing becomes come off the perch. 1931 M. Allingham Look to Lady xv. 156 For Gawd's sake come off yer perch and listen to this seriously. 1936 S. Sassoon Sherston's Progress iii. 151 Tells Hooper to come off his perch and put the kettle on, which isn't well received by the golden-haired one. 1976 D. Clark Dread & Water v. 104, I reckon..that he's been knocked off his perch by our form of investigation. |
† f. [Obliquely derived from prec. phrases: cf. perch v. 6, to die.] Death. Obs. slang.
| 1722 W. Bromley Let. to J. Grahme 22 Apr. in J. Bagot Col. J. Grahme (1886) 32 My letters yesterday put me into a very great quandary, upon hearing of your friend's perch [i.e. the death of the Earl of Sunderland]. Ibid. 6 May, I do not believe that any of my friends rejoice at the late perch, though I am told that others have shown very indecent joy. |
4. A wooden bar, or frame of two parallel bars, over which pieces of cloth are pulled, in order to examine them thoroughly; formerly also used in dressing cloth, blankets, etc., with hand-cards: cf. perch v. 5; Obs. or dial. [So in French.] Also, a horizontal bar used in softening leather.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Cc ij b, Ye haue strayned it on the tentours, and drawen it on the perche. 1666 W. Spurstowe Spir. Chym. 118 Cloth that is drawn over the Perch. Ibid. 164 The circumspect Merchant contents not himself with the seeing and feeling of his Cloth..but he puts it upon the Perch, and setting it between the light and himself, draws it leasurely over, and so discovers, not only the rents and holes that are in it, but the inequality of the threads, etc. 1883 Almondbury & Huddersf. Gloss. 1898 Hide & Leather 24 Sept. 21/3 After drying they [sc. skins] are softened, dry, over a perch with a moon⁓knife. 1902 Mod. Amer. Tanning I. 201 When the pelt is about half dry, it must be worked over what is called a perch. 1903 H. R. Procter Princ. Leather Manuf. 188 ‘Perching’..[consists] in fixing the skins on a horizontal pole (the ‘perch’), and working them with..a tool formed somewhat like a small shovel with a semicircular blade. 1909 H. G. Bennett Manuf. Leather 359 In perching the mechanical treatment is less violent, the goods being fixed on a ‘perch’—a horizontal pole about 5 feet above the ground—and scraped by means of the ‘moon-knife’. 1940 [see perching vbl. n.1]. |
III. 5. A rod of a definite length used for measuring land, etc.; hence a. A measure of length, esp. for land, palings, walls, etc.; in Standard Measure equal to 5½ yards, or 16½ feet, but varying greatly locally: see quots. Also called pole or rod.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxix. (Add. MS. 27944), Þe pase conteyneþ fyue feet and þe perche elleuene passe and ten feete. [Some error: L. has passus pedes. v. partica pedes .xx.] 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 14 Bounde to repaire cccclxvij perches, every perche of xviij fote, of the pale of the parke. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §12 An acre of grounde by the statute, that is to say .xvi. fote and a halfe, to the perch or pole, foure perches to an acre in bredth, and fortye perches to an acre in lengthe. 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 207, 5 yardes and a halfe make a Perche. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 330 A Perch, or Lug is sixteen foot and a half Land-measure, but is usually eighteen foot to measure Coppice-woods withal. 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. (1691) 52 The Perch of Ireland is 21 Foot. 1763 Museum Rust. I. lxxiii. 315 Besides these statute measures, there are in England what may be called customary perches, differing one from the other in length in various counties. a 1850 Jas. Gray Introd. Arith. (ed. 100) 8, Tables, 5½ Yards = 1 Pole or Perch. |
b. A superficial measure of land, equal to a square of which each side is a lineal perch; a square perch or pole (normally 1/160 of an acre).
| 1442 Rolls of Parlt. V. 59/1 A quarter and an half of a perche, and a pek of Londe. 1571 Digges Pantom. ii. xii. N iij, There is in that parke 1188 acres, and 24 perches. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 200 Not to lose a Pearch of my many Acres, through imperfect Survey. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Lucern, A perch of transplanted lucern. 1836 Landor Peric. & Asp. Wks. 1846 II. 371/1 Pindar! you have brought a sack of corn to sow a perch of land. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. in O.C. & F. Words (E.D.S.) 174 Perch (Guernsey) 7 yards squared for land measure, making 13/5 perches. (Jersey) 71/3 yards = 22 feet [squared], 1/90 of an acre. |
c. A solid measure used for stone, containing a lineal perch (see a) in length, and usually 1½ feet in breadth and 1 foot in thickness; but varying locally, and for different materials.
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. Price-bk. 90 An Irish rod or perch of stone-walling..is twenty-one feet in length, eighteen inches in breadth, and twelve inches in depth. 1849 D. G. Mitchell Battle Summer (1852) 57 Will these blouse-men, who sup in Tuilleries today, hammer stone tomorrow at ten sous a perch? 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. in O.C. & F. Words (E.D.S.) 174 (Devon) Perch of stone work, 16½ feet in length, 1 in height, and 22 inches in thickness [= 301/4 feet]; of cob work, 18 feet in length, 1 in height, and 2 in thickness. |
IV. 6. attrib. and Comb.: perch-bolt, the bolt or pin upon which the perch of a carriage turns; † perch-candle = percher2 (obs.); perch-carriage, a ‘carriage’, or framework of a vehicle (carriage 28), having a perch; perch-coach, a coach having a perch; perch-hoop, in a vehicle, ‘the hoop that unites the other timbers to the perch’ (Felton); perch-iron, a general term for the iron parts of a carriage-perch (Knight Dict. Mech. 1884); perch-loop, an iron fastened to a carriage-perch, having loops for the straps which pass to the bed, to limit the swing of the body (ibid.); perch money, money paid for the maintenance of perches (sense 1 c) in a harbour, etc.; perch-plate, an iron plate placed above, below, or at the side of a carriage-perch; perch-pole, a climbing-pole used by acrobats; perch-stay, one of the side rods which pass from the perch of a carriage to the hind axle as braces.
| 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 40 The under carriage is the conductor, and turns by means of a lever, called a pole, acting on a centre pin, called a *perch-bolt. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 174/2 The perch-bolt, or centre⁓point on which the wheels lock round. |
| 1499 Promp. Parv. 393 (Pynson) *Perche candell, perticalis. 1532–3 in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 265 Halfe dowsen of perche Candelles vij d. ob. |
| 1800 Hull Advertiser 11 Oct. 2/4 A neat post chaise, with *perch carriage. |
| 1815 Paris Chit-Chat (1816) I. 101 [He] paces along gravely with two enormous black horses, and in a *perch-coach. |
| 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 102 A *perch hoop, which unites the wings to the perch, by being tightly drove over them. |
| 1465 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 323 Hit is ordeynet..that al..pay *perche mony to the water baliffes of the havvyn of the seid citte. |
| 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 52 The side *perch-plates. [p. 45 Plating with iron the sides of perches is a great improvement.] |
▪ III. perch, v.1
(pɜːtʃ)
Forms: see perch n.2
[a. F. perche-r (14th c. in Littré), f. perche perch n.2]
I. 1. intr. To alight or rest as a bird upon a perch, to settle, or to stand or sit, as a bird, properly upon a bar, bough, etc. with its feet grasping the support. Hence transf. of persons and things: To alight or settle, or to stand, sit, or rest, upon something (usually at a height above the ground, and affording narrow standing-room).
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans C viij, She perchith when she stondyth on any maner bowe or perch. 1530 Palsgr. 656/1, I perche, as a hauke or byrde..on a boughe or perche, je perche. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. Poems 1873 II. 55 Her shoulders be like two white doues, Pearching within square royall rooues. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. v. i. 80. 1663 Charleton Chor. Gigant. 29 Where ever the Roman Eagle pearch'd. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. ii, Thou wilt be hung up in chains, or thy quarters perching upon the most conspicuous places of the kingdom. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 440 Birds of dazzling plume Perch on the loaded boughs. 1862 Johns Brit. Birds (1874) 174 A long and almost straight [claw] is best adapted for perching on the ground. |
2. trans. To set or place upon a perch, to cause to perch; to set up on a height, or as on a perch. Also refl.
| 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 115 When you see them sit close that one to that other for warmth..pearche them and lewre them both togither. a 1687 H. More (J.), If you could perch yourself as a bird on the top of some high steeple. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxi. (1856) 265 The driving ice, and the groaning pressures which have perched us thus upon a lump of drift. 1883 Gilmour Mongols xviii. 217 Crows perch themselves on the top of loaded camels. |
3. pa. pple. (from 1 and 2, being the result either of having perched or being perched). Standing, seated, or settled as a bird upon a perch; set up on an eminence, esp. with little standing-room.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 901 How that myn Egle fast by Was perched hye vpon a stoon. 1627 Drayton Agincourt lxix, Bedfords an Eagle pearcht vpon a Tower. 1633 Battle of Lutzen in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 188 You shall find the heavenly benediction perched on the points of your swords. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 247 The most part of them..are shot with a Fowling-piece, either perched by a Dog, or otherwise, or flying. 1835 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. vi. 88 A castle perched on its summit. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 19 Upon the..moraine..were perched enormous masses of rock. 1862 Johns Brit. Birds 290, I have always failed to observe it actually perched and singing. 1877 Black Green Past. xxxvii. (1878) 297 The Lieutenant, perched up beside the driver was furnished with a couple of umbrellas. 1884 Manch. Exam. 13 May 5/2 The heights on which the old town is perched. |
II. † 4. trans. To furnish with, or fasten to, a ‘perch’ or pole, for a prop or support. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxvii. (Add. MS. 27944) It [vine] haþ vertue and might to bynde hemself togideres and beþ perched & trayled and bounde to tryen þat ben nyȝe þerto. |
5. To stretch (cloth from the loom) upon a perch (perch n.2 4), for the purpose of examining and burling, or detecting and removing imperfections, such as knots or holes, or (formerly) of raising the nap by hand-cards. (Later done by gigging; see gig v.)
Hence, dial. (a) To examine piecework of any kind before payment, or to submit such work for examination by the employer. (b) To raise a nap on woollen cloth. (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
| 1552 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 22 Certen Milles called Gigge Milles, for the perchinge and burlinge of Clothe, by reason whereof the true Draperie of this realme ys wonderfully empayred. 1892 Chambers's Encycl. X. 730/1 Perching consists in making a close inspection of the piece with the object of marking all defects. |
6. [From the phrases hop the perch, etc.: perch n.2 3 e.] To die. slang. (Cf. percher1 6.)
| 1886 Sporting Times 3 Aug. 1/3 (Farmer) ‘Well, s'pose I perched first?’ ‘Well’, replied Pitcher, ‘I should just come in where you were lying’ [etc.]. |
▪ IV. † perch, v.2 Obs.
[Collateral form of perk v.1
The existence of perk as a northern form of perch n.2 and v.1, appears to have led to some confusion between perch v.1 and perk v.1, and given rise to this variant of the latter.]
intr. To raise or exalt oneself, to push or set oneself up aspiringly, self-assertingly, or presumptuously; = perk v.1 1, 1 b.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 299 b, Contemning the authoritie of the higher powers..[they] will presume so proudly to pearch through intollerable pryde, to make themselves their coequalles. 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep. xiv. 143 Some..which proudly pearch so hie. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe C ij, In Anno 1240, it [Yarmouth] percht vp to be gouernd by balies. 1621 Hakewill David's Vow 211 It never leaves pearching and pushing forward, till it set it selfe higher than is meet. |
Hence † perched ppl. a. = perked; † perching vbl. n. and ppl. a., perking.
| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 51 More, fayr, eeuen, and fresh holly treez, for pearching and proining, set within. 1598 Herrings Tayle D j b, His pearching hornes are ream'd a yard beyond assise. 1600 Hosp. Inc. Fooles A iv, Those pearched Cuckoes that laugh at all the world. 1617 B. Jonson Vision of Delight 132 Nor purple Phesant..with a pearched pride Wave his dis-coloured necke, and purple side. |
▪ V. perch
obs. form of parch v.