ebb

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   fall away or decline

   The patient's strength ebbed away

2. 2
   verb

   flow back or recede

   the tides ebbed at noon

3. 3
   noun

   The receding movement of the tide.

   The boats will go out on the ebb.

4. 4
   noun

   A gradual decline.

   Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.

5. 5
   noun

   A low state; a state of depression.

   Painting was then at its lowest ebb.

6. 6
   adj

   low, shallow

   All the sea lying betweene, is verie ebbe, full of shallowes and shelves

7. 7
   verb

   to flow back or recede

   The tides ebbed at noon.

8. 8
   verb

   to fall away or decline

   The dying man's strength ebbed away.

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.