to birch
1
9.9
- verb
- /bɜrtʃ/
- Archaic
- In the old school, students knew they could be birched for serious misbehavior.
Examples
-
By the time they convene the Hall and have a big discussion of whether it's at all appropriate to even listen to her instead of having her immediately birched, what she might have seen (since she can't lie) and all the reasons that she might be wrong, the raken would still be blasting holes in the completely unprepared Tower.
Blog text (9) -
Oh, that Tim Hager... he ought to be birched!
-
If the town don't birch him, he'll be birched by The Lord.
-
If the town don't birch him, he'll be birched by The Lord.
-
And if you win, you get the girl for free, but if you lose to that monkey, you gonna get your backside birched... [all laughing] by the monkey!
-
Hawtrey, moreover, may have birched the budding poet, as Ian Gibson speculates in The English Vice, a study of flagellation in English schools.
Academic text (2016) -
After the rebellion, the captain threatened to birch the young soldiers who disobeyed orders.
-
He was birched as a punishment for skipping class, according to the school's strict rules.
Antonyms
Compounds
- US
1
7.2
A light boat made from birch tree bark and used by Native people in North America
- US
1
6.5
A tree with reddish-brown bark that grows near rivers and swamps in the eastern United States
- Specialized
1
5.8
A North American tree with peeling reddish-brown bark that grows near rivers and in swamps
- US
1
6.7
A North American birch tree with white bark that peels and whose bark people use to make canoes and baskets
- US
1
6.7
A birch tree with dark reddish bark and a strong smell that grows in eastern North America
- US
1
6.4
A medium-sized birch tree with pale gray bark that grows in eastern North America in old fields and burned areas
- US
1
7.5
A tree from eastern North America with spicy brown bark and strong dark wood used for furniture
- US
1
8.1
A birch tree from the western United States with brownish bark that grows in wetlands
- US
1
6.7
A North American tree with dark bark that smells like mint and has hard wood used for furniture
1
6.6
A birch tree with brownish bark that grows in western United States mountains
- US
1
6.5
A birch tree that grows by streams in the western United States and has brown bark
- UK
1
3.8
A tree with silvery white bark that peels in thin papery layers and drooping branches
1
6.5
A small North American tree with white bark that peels, used for baskets and toy canoes
A small shrub with low, spreading branches that grows in cold northern regions
A medium-sized birch tree with white or pale grey bark from eastern North America
- Specialized
A small birch that grows as a low shrub in cold parts of North America and Greenland
A small North American tree with white bark that peels and is used for canoes and baskets
An oil with a minty smell that you rub on skin to ease minor muscle and joint pain
- Specialized
A tree with brownish bark that grows in western parts of the United States
A birch tree from the western United States with brown bark and thin branches
- Specialized
A tree that grows in Alaska and northern Canada with pale white bark
How Severe
Surface Forms
Etymology
The verb birch comes from the noun for those twigs, so to 'birch' someone is to whip them with a bundle of birch twigs as a form of punishment.