ebb

noun

movement of a tide back toward the sea

L14789 on Wikidata ↗

verb

(of a tide) move back toward the sea
become smaller/lower

L14790 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɛb/

adj

Etymology: From Middle English ebbe, from Old English ebba (“ebb, tide”), from Proto-West Germanic *abbjā, from Proto-Germanic *abjô, *abjǭ, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“off, away”), from Proto-Indo-European *apó. See also West Frisian ebbe, Dutch eb, German Ebbe, Danish ebbe, Old Norse efja (“countercurrent”), Old English af. More at of, off.

low, shallow
“All the sea lying betweene, is verie ebbe, full of shallowes and shelves”

noun

The receding movement of the tide.
“The boats will go out on the ebb.”
“Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!”
A gradual decline.
“Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.”
“This reflection thawed my congealing blood, and again the tide of life and love flowed impetuously onward, again to ebb as my busy thoughts changed.”
A low state; a state of depression.
“Painting was then at its lowest ebb.”
“A "lowest ebb" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "ebb" might easily have lasted for years.”
A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).

verb

Etymology: From Middle English ebben, from Old English ebbian, from Proto-West Germanic *abbjōn (“to ebb”).

to flow back or recede
“The tides ebbed at noon.”
to fall away or decline
“The dying man's strength ebbed away.”
to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
To cause to flow back.
“Parts of this town do not want a big influx of gay people and are trying to ebb it.”