Beach

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Beach, n. [Cf. Sw. backe hill, Dan. bakke, Icel. bakki hill, bank. Cf. Bank.].

•  Pebbles, collectively; shingle.  [1913 Webster]
•  The shore of the sea, or of a lake, which is washed by the waves; especially, a sandy or pebbly shore; the strand.  [1913 Webster]

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, v. t. 

 To run or drive (as a vessel or a boat) upon a beach; to strand; as, to beach a ship.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Beach, n. & v.
--n. a pebbly or sandy shore esp. of the sea between high- and low-water marks.
--v.tr. run or haul up (a boat etc.) on to a beach.

Idiom

beach-ball a large inflated ball for games on the beach. beach buggy a low wide-wheeled motor vehicle for recreational driving on sand. beach plum
1 a maritime N. American shrub, Prunus maritima.
2 its edible fruit.

Etymology

16th c.: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

Beach

bank, berm, careen, cast away, coast, coastland, coastline, embankment, foreshore, ground, ironbound coast, lido, littoral, margin, pile up, plage, playa, riverside, riviera, rockbound coast, run aground, sands, sea margin, seabank, seabeach, seaboard, seacliff, seacoast, seashore, seaside, shingle, shipwreck, shore, shoreline, strand, submerged coast, take the ground, tidewater, waterfront, waterside, wreck

ROGET THESAURUS

Beach

Land

N land, earth, ground, dry land, terra firma, continent, mainland, peninsula, chersonese, delta, tongue of land, neck of land, isthmus, oasis, promontory, highland, coast, shore, scar, strand, beach, playa, bank, lea, seaboard, seaside, seabank, seacoast, seabeach, ironbound coast, loom of the land, derelict, innings, alluvium, alluvion, ancon, riverbank, river bank, levee, soil, glebe, clay, loam, marl, cledge, chalk, gravel, mold, subsoil, clod, clot, rock, crag, acres, real estate, landsman, earthy, continental, midland, coastal, littoral, riparian, alluvial, terrene, landed, predial, territorial, geophilous, ripicolous, ashore, on shore, on land.