birch

name

1. A surname.
2. A nickname of the surname Birchall.
3. A village and civil parish in Colchester borough, Essex, England (OS grid ref TL9419).
4. A small village in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England (OS grid ref SD8507).
5. A township in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States.
6. An extinct town in Eureka County, Nevada, United States.
7. A town in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, United States.
8. An unincorporated community in the town of Sanborn, Ashland County, Wisconsin.

noun

Etymology: PIE word *bʰerHǵós From Middle English birche, birk, from Old English birċe, bierċe, from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā, from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos. Cognates Compare West Frisian bjirk, German Birke, variant of *berkō (compare Dutch berk, Danish birk, Swedish björk, Norwegian bjørk), Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá), Lithuanian béržas, Czech bříza, Ossetian бӕрз (bærz), Russian берёза (berjóza)), Latin fraxinus (“ash tree, ash javelin”), Albanian bredh.

1. Any of various trees of the genus Betula, native to countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
2. A hard wood taken from the birch tree, typically used to make furniture.
3. A stick, rod or bundle of twigs made from birch wood, used for punishment.
4. A birch-bark canoe.

verb

Etymology: PIE word *bʰerHǵós From Middle English birche, birk, from Old English birċe, bierċe, from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā, from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos. Cognates Compare West Frisian bjirk, German Birke, variant of *berkō (compare Dutch berk, Danish birk, Swedish björk, Norwegian bjørk), Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá), Lithuanian béržas, Czech bříza, Ossetian бӕрз (bærz), Russian берёза (berjóza)), Latin fraxinus (“ash tree, ash javelin”), Albanian bredh.

1. To punish with a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.
2. To punish as though one were using a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.

   “That the morrow would see us arraigned 'fore the Head And probably birched with a willow”

   “[…] and was tied to a tree and soundly birched with a bundle of furze”