ebb

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   (of the tide) To flow back away from the shore.

   We waited for the tide to ebb before walking out to the rocks.

2. 2
   verb

   To slowly become weaker or smaller.

   As the night went on, the patient's strength ebbed away.

3. 3
   noun

   A time when something is at a low or weak point.

   Her confidence was at its lowest ebb after the failure.

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.

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