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  1. beck love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A gesture of beckoning or summons.
  2. idiom. at (someone's) beck and call Ready to comply with any wish or command.
  3. n. Chiefly British A small brook; a creek.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A brook; a small stream; especially, a brook with a stony bed or rugged course.
  2. n. The valley of a beck; a field or patch of ground adjacent to a brook. See batch.
  3. To signal by a nod or other significant gesture; beckon.
  4. To recognize a person by a slight bow or nod.
  5. To summon or intimate some command or desire to by a nod or gesture; beckon to.
  6. To express by a gesture: as, to beck thanks.
  7. n. A nod of the head or other significant gesture intended to be understood as expressive of a desire, or as a sign of command.
  8. n. A gesture of salutation or recognition; a bow; a courtesy.
  9. n. An agricultural implement with two hooks, used in dressing turnips, etc.; a form of mattock.
  10. n. A beak.
  11. n. Any pointed or projecting part of the dress, especially of a head-dress, as of the bycocket.
  12. n. A vat or vessel used in a dye-house; a back.
  13. n. Same as beck-harman.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Norfolk, Northern England A stream or small river.
  2. n. A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.
  3. v. archaic To nod or motion with the head.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. obsolete See beak.
  2. n. A small brook.
  3. n. A vat. See back.
  4. v. Archaic To nod, or make a sign with the head or hand.
  5. v. Archaic To notify or call by a nod, or a motion of the head or hand; to intimate a command to.
  6. n. A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, esp. as a call or command.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a beckoning gesture

Etymologies

  1. A shortened form of beckon, from Old English bēcnan, from Proto-Germanic *bauknan (“beacon”). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English bek, from bekken, to beckon, alteration of bekenen; see beckon.Middle English, from Old Norse bekkr; see bhegw- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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  • treeseed Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
    noun
    Etymology: Middle English bek, from Old Norse bekkr; akin to Old English bæc brook, Old High German bah
    Date: 14th century
    British : creek

    "Oh, dear, if I was but a little chap in Vendale again, to see the clear beck, and the apple-orchard, and the yew-hedge, how different I would go on!"
    _Water Babies - Charles Kingsley, 1937 Jan 31, 2008

  • slumry and a gesture used to summon someone Jul 18, 2007

  • fbharjo beck in the sense of a small, steep brook or stream Jan 15, 2007

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‘beck’ has been looked up 1930 times, added to 17 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.