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to birch

to birch

9.9
To beat someone with a bundle of thin twigs as punishment
  • verb
  • /bɜrtʃ/
  • Archaic
translation icon : azotar con una vara de abedul
  • 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

1.4

To stop feeling angry at someone or yourself for a mistake

to pardon
  • Formal
92 3.9

To officially forgive someone for a crime and free them from punishment

Compounds

3 2.1

A tree with thin white bark that peels and slender branches

1 4.9

A tree with pale bark and thin hanging branches often found in Europe

1 7.2

A light boat made from birch tree bark and used by Native people in North America

1 6.3

A sweet fizzy drink flavored with birch bark

1 6.5

A tree with reddish-brown bark that grows near rivers and swamps in the eastern United States

river birch
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A North American tree with peeling reddish-brown bark that grows near rivers and in swamps

birch family
  • Specialized
5.6

A group of trees and shrubs like birches, alders, and hazels

A small black insect whose young live inside birch leaves and eat them

6.5

A fragrant oil from birch bark used on the skin to ease minor muscle and joint pain

birch rod
  • NSFW
9.5

A bundle of thin birch twigs used to hit someone as punishment

6.7

A birch tree with dark reddish bark and a strong smell that grows in eastern North America

6.7

A North American birch tree with white bark that peels and whose bark people use to make canoes and baskets

7.5

A tree from eastern North America with spicy brown bark and strong dark wood used for furniture

3.8

A tree with silvery white bark that peels in thin papery layers and drooping branches

7.7

A tree with soft hairy young branches and dull white bark

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

A small North American tree with white bark that peels, used for baskets and toy canoes

A tree with silvery white peeling bark and drooping branches

A birch tree with brownish bark that grows in western United States mountains

6.4

A medium-sized birch tree with pale gray bark that grows in eastern North America in old fields and burned areas

9.9

A small birch that grows as a low shrub in cold parts of North America and Greenland

5.3

A North American tree with white, peeling bark used to make baskets and canoes

A small North American tree with white bark that peels and is used for canoes and baskets

8.1

A birch tree from the western United States with brownish bark that grows in wetlands

An oil with a minty smell that you rub on skin to ease minor muscle and joint pain

6.7

A North American tree with dark bark that smells like mint and has hard wood used for furniture

A tree with silvery white peeling bark and drooping branches

6.5

A birch tree that grows by streams in the western United States and has brown bark

Western birch
  • Specialized
8.2

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

6.1

A North American tree with thin shiny yellow or gray bark and strong wood

Yukon white birch
  • Specialized
8.9

A tree that grows in Alaska and northern Canada with pale white bark

How Severe

to flog
  • NSFW
18 8.3
to whip
133 4.4
to birch
  • Archaic
9.9
to cane
  • NSFW
8 8.6
to smack
164 3.5
to spank
119 3.6
tap
66 1.0

Surface Forms

birch infinitive
birched past
birched past participle
birching present participle
birches third person singular

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.