▪ I. beech
(biːtʃ)
Forms: 1 bóece, béce, 3–6 beche, 3 bech, 6 beetch, 6–7 beeche, 6–9 beech.
[OE. bóece, béce, cogn. with MLG. bōke, bȫke, mod.LG. baike, weak fem. (:—OTeut. *bōkjōn-), a derivative form from OTeut. *bōkā-, str. fem., whence also ON. bók, OE. bóc, OHG. buohha, MHG. buoche, G. buche, MDu. boeke (Du. beuk, Flem. boek), ‘beech.’ OTeut. *bokā- was cogn. w. L. fāgus ‘beech,’ and Gr. ϕᾱγός, ϕηγός ‘esculent oak’; meaning originally ‘tree with eatable fruit’, from root found in Gr. ϕαγεῖν to eat. The more primitive Eng. bóc is not found after the 12th c. exc. in buck-mast, buck-wheat, and their abbreviation buck.]
1. a. A well-known forest tree indigenous to Europe and Western Asia, having fine thin smooth bark, and glossy oval leaves; its boughs and foliage form a dense mass, and it bears triquetrous nuts (called mast) placed in pairs in a rough or prickly involucre. It has several ornamental varieties distinguished by the colour or shape of the leaves, as the Purple, Copper, and Fern-leaved Beech.
b. The genus Fagus, family Corylaceæ, including the Common Beech (F. sylvatica) and other species.
| a 800 Epinal Gl., Fagus, boecae, Corpus Gl., boece (Sweet, O.E.T. 61, 62). [a 1000 Wr.–Wülcker Voc. 137 Fagus, boc.] Ibid. 402 Fagus, bece. [a 1200 Ibid. 545 Fagus, boctreow.] a 1300 W. de Biblesworth in Wright Voc. 171 Quyr enclowé à foust de fou (of bech). a 1300 K. Alis. 5242 Beches, birches of the fairest. 1340 Ayenb. 23 Þe greate beches ine wodes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 27 Beche tre, fagus. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 101 b, The next among the Mast trees is the Beech. 1600 Fairfax Tasso vii. xix. (R.) Engrau'd in barke of beeche and baies. 1704 Pope Summer 13 Ye shady beeches, and ye cooling streams. 1727 Thomson Summer 1362 The spreading beech, that o'er the stream Incumbent hung. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xiii. (1852) 281, I was also pleased to see, at an elevation of little less than 1000 feet, our old friend the southern beech. |
c. The wood of this tree. Often
attrib., as in
beech-coal (
i.e. charcoal),
beech bedstead, etc.
| 1607 Lingua iv. i. in Hazl. Dodsl. IX. 411 How shall I devise to blow the fire of beech coals? 1730 Southall Bugs 34 Also Beach-Bedsteds, for all such afford them much Harbour and Food. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 259 Beech, a wood which, from its hardness, closeness, and strength..holds a prominent place. |
2. Applied with or without distinguishing epithet to various other trees more or less resembling the beech of Europe; in Australia,
Tectona australis (a kind of Teak); in New South Wales,
Monotoca elliptica (an Epicrad); in Jamaica,
Exostemma caribæum (a Cinchonad).
blue beech (
U.S.), an American species of Hornbeam (
Carpinus Americana);
† Dutch beech, old name in England of the Abele (
Populus alba);
horn,
horse, or
hurst beech,
dial. names of the
hornbeam;
sea-side beech, the ‘Beech’ of Jamaica (see above);
water beech, the same as
Blue Beech;
white beech,
dial. name of the
hornbeam.
3. Comb., chiefly
attrib., as
beech-apple,
beech-bole,
beech-gall,
beech-leaf,
beech-nut,
beech-root,
beech-timber,
beech-tree,
beech-wood;
beech-green adj.| c 1450 in Wright Voc. 228 Hec fagus, a bech-tre. 1551 Turner Herbal (1568) 12 The sede is thre square like bucke wheat or beach aples. 1586 Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 71 Tyterus happily thou liest tumbling vnder a beetchtree. 1681 Grew Musæum iii. §i. ii. 269 A Stone..which looks like a piece of Beech-wood. 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 4964/1 The Assize of Billet, made..of Beech-wood. 1739 E. Smith Compl. Housew. (ed. 9) 316 A quarter of a spoonful of oil of beech-nuts. Ibid. 317 The beech-nut-oil. 1814 Southey Roderick vii, And from his head the ashes fell, like snow Shaken from some dry beech-leaves. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. ii, The little Kuhbach gushing kindly by, among beech-rows. 1851 Gard. Chron. 740 A disease which is making great ravages amongst our Beech trees. Ibid. 550 The beech-timber of the Chiltern Hills is harder and heavier. c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 106/1 Oils are..extracted from the beech-nut, weld seed, etc. 1908 R. South Moths II. 184 The Beech-Green Carpet (Amoebe olivata). 1909 L. Huxley in Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 2/3 The silver beechboles burn to gold. 1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 109 The woods where the beech-green spurts Like a storm of emerald snow. |
4. Special comb.:
beech disease (see
quots.);
beech-drops, a North American plant,
Epiphēgus, family Orobanchaceæ, parasitic upon the roots of the beech;
beech-fern, common name of
Polypodium Phegopteris;
beech-finch, local name of the Chaffinch;
beech marten, see
marten;
beech-mast, the fruit of the beech;
beech-oil, oil extracted from beech-mast;
beech-owl, local name of the Tawny Owl;
beech-weevil (see
quot.);
beech-wheat = buckwheat;
beech-wood sugar (see
quots.).
| 1905 Daily Chron. 3 July 9/1 *Beech disease (cryptococcus fagi) is widely distributed throughout England. |
| 1815 Drake Cincinnati ii. 86 *Beech drops. 1876 Chambers Cycl., Cancer Root, or Beech-drops..a parasitic plant. |
| 1816 Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. IX. ii. 444 It [the Chaffinch] is called by various names in this country, such as..Flax-finch, *Beech-finch, [etc.]. |
| 1841 Fennell Nat. Hist. Quadr. 106 The Beech Marten is the Martes foina of modern zoologists..Besides *Beech Marten, it is called Stone Marten. |
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 31 The graine..three-corned, not unlike the *Beechemast both in colour and forme. 1876 Digby Real Prop. i. §1. 17 Feeding swine on the acorns and beechmast. |
| 1716 Lond. Gaz. No. 5468/4 Fine *Beech Oil cold drawn. |
| 1882 Garden 25 Mar. 198/2 The *Beech weevil..feeds on the leaves of Beech trees. |
| 1913 Dorland Med. Dict. (ed. 7) 919/1 *Beechwood sugar, xylose. |
▪ II. beech obs. variant of
beach.