Defn: A prefix, originally the same word as by; joined with verbs, it serves: (a) To intensify the meaning; as, bespatter, bestir. (b) To render an intransitive verb transitive; as, befall (to fall upon); bespeak (to speak for). (c) To make the action of a verb particular or definite; as, beget (to get as offspring); beset (to set around).
Note: It is joined with certain substantives, and a few adjectives, to form verbs; as, bedew, befriend, benight, besot; belate (to make late); belittle (to make little). It also occurs in certain nouns, adverbs, and prepositions, often with something of the force of the preposition by, or about; as, belief (believe), behalf, bequest (bequeath); because, before, beneath, beside, between. In some words the original force of be is obscured or lost; as, in become, begin, behave, behoove, belong.
BEACH
Beach, n.; pl. Beaches (. Etym: [Cf. Sw. backe hill, Dan. bakke,
Icel. bakki hill, bank. Cf. Bank.]
1. Pebbles, collectively; shingle.
2. The shore of the sea, or of a lake, which is washed by the waves; especially, a sandy or pebbly shore; the strand. Beach flea (Zoöl.), the common name of many species of amphipod Crustacea, of the family Orchestidæ, living on the sea beaches, and leaping like fleas. — Beach grass (Bot.), a coarse grass (Ammophila arundinacea), growing on the sandy shores of lakes and seas, which, by its interlaced running rootstocks, binds the sand together, and resists the encroachment of the waves. — Beach wagon, a light open wagon with two or more seats. — Raised beach, an accumulation of water-worn stones, gravel, sand, and other shore deposits, above the present level of wave action, whether actually raised by elevation of the coast, as in Norway, or left by the receding waters, as in many lake and river regions.
BEACH
Beach, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beached (p. pr. & vb. n. Beaching.]
Defn: To run or drive (as a vessel or a boat) upon a beach; to strand; as, to beach a ship.
BEACH COMBER
Beach" comb`er.
Defn: A long, curling wave rolling in from the ocean. See Comber.
[Amer.]
BEACHED
Beached, p. p. & a.