ebb
pronunciation
How to pronounce ebb in British English:
UK [eb]
How to pronounce ebb in American English:
US [eb]
-
- Noun:
- a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
- the outward flow of the tide
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- Verb:
- flow back or recede
- hem in fish with stakes and nets so as to prevent them from going back into the sea with the ebb
- fall away or decline
Word Origin
- ebb
- ebb: [OE] Water that is ebbing is literally going ‘off’ or ‘away’. The word comes from West Germanic *abjon, a noun formed from *ab, ancestor of modern English of, off, which denoted removal or departure.=> of, off
- ebb (n.)
- Old English ebba "falling of the tide, low tide," perhaps from Proto-Germanic *af- (cognates: Old Frisian ebba, Old Saxon ebbiunga, Middle Dutch ebbe, Dutch eb, German Ebbe), from PIE root *apo- "off, away" (see apo-). Figurative sense of "decline, decay, gradual diminution" is from late 14c. Ebb-tide is from 1776.
- ebb (v.)
- Old English ebbian "flow back, subside," from the root of ebb (n.). Figurative use in late Old English. Related: Ebbed; ebbing.
Example
- 1. Deloitte access economics believes this investment surge will ebb in two years .
- 2. The more controversial one is that the disinflationary effect of globalisation will soon start to ebb .
- 3. Responsive web design offers us a way forward , finally allowing us to " design for the ebb and flow of things . "
- 4. He expects that over the next century , its carbon appetite will drop by 10 percent-and it may ebb much further in the long run .
- 5. But this latest ebb has shown the state to be stark naked .