What is "birch"

Birch \Birch\ (b[~e]rch), n.; pl. Birches (-[e^]z). [OE. birche, birk, AS. birce, beorc; akin to Icel. bj["o]rk, Sw. bj["o]rk, Dan. birk, D. berk, OHG. piricha, MHG. birche, birke, G. birke, Russ. bereza, Pol. brzoza, Serv. breza, Skr. bh[=u]rja. [root]254. Cf. 1st Birk.]

1. A tree of several species, constituting the genus Betula; as, the white or common birch ( Betula alba) (also called silver birch and lady birch); the dwarf birch ( Betula glandulosa); the paper or canoe birch ( Betula papyracea); the yellow birch ( Betula lutea); the black or cherry birch ( Betula lenta).

2. The wood or timber of the birch.

3. A birch twig or birch twigs, used for flogging.

   Note: The twigs of the common European birch (B. alba), being tough and slender, were formerly much used for rods in schools. They were also made into brooms.

   The threatening twigs of birch.
   --Shak.

4. A birch-bark canoe. Birch of Jamaica, a species ( Bursera gummifera) of turpentine tree. Birch partridge. (Zo["o]l.) See Ruffed grouse. Birch wine, wine made of the spring sap of the birch. Oil of birch.

   1. An oil obtained from the bark of the common European birch ( Betula alba), and used in the preparation of genuine (and sometimes of the imitation) Russia leather, to which it gives its peculiar odor.

   2. An oil prepared from the black birch ( Betula lenta), said to be identical with the oil of wintergreen, for which it is largely sold.

Birch \Birch\, a. Of or pertaining to the birch; birchen.

Birch \Birch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Birched (b[~e]rcht); p. pr. & vb. n. Birching.] To whip with a birch rod or twig; to flog.

Old English berc, beorc (also the name of the rune for "b"), from Proto-Germanic *berkjon (cognates: Old Saxon birka, Old Norse börk, Danish birk, Swedish björk, Middle Dutch berke, Dutch berk, Old High German birihha, German Birke), from PIE *bhergo (cognates: Ossetian barz, Old Church Slavonic breza, Russian bereza, Lithuanian beržas, Sanskrit bhurjah, Latin farnus, fraxinus "mountain ash"), from root *bhereg- "to gleam, white." Meaning "bunch of birch twigs used for flogging" (1640s) led to verb meaning "to flog" (1830). Related: Birched; birching. Birch beer is by 1827, American English.

n. 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. vb. 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.

1. n. hard close-grained wood of any of various birch trees; used especially in furniture and interior finishes and plywood

2. any betulaceous tree or shrub of the genus Betula having a thin peeling bark [syn: birch tree]

3. bundle of birch twigs used to hit people as punishment [syn: birch rod]

adj. consisting of or made of wood of the birch tree [syn: birchen, birken]

v. whip with a birch twig

BIRCH (balanced iterative reducing and clustering using hierarchies) is an unsupervised data mining algorithm used to perform hierarchical clustering over particularly large data-sets. An advantage of BIRCH is its ability to incrementally and dynamically cluster incoming, multi-dimensional metric data points in an attempt to produce the best quality clustering for a given set of resources (memory and time constraints). In most cases, BIRCH only requires a single scan of the database.

Its inventors claim BIRCH to be the "first clustering algorithm proposed in the database area to handle 'noise' (data points that are not part of the underlying pattern) effectively", beating DBSCAN by two months. The algorithm received the SIGMOD 10 year test of time award in 2006.

Birch is the common name for trees of the genus Betula.

Birch or Birchs may also refer to:

• BIRCH, a clustering algorithm
• "Birches" (poem), a poem by Robert Frost
• Birch (surname)

Birch is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• A. A. Birch, Jr.
• Adam Birch
• Andreas Birch
• Arthur John Birch (1915–1995), Australian chemist
• Arthur Nonus Birch, Lieutenant-Governor of Ceylon
• Bill Birch (born 1934), New Zealand politician
• Bob Birch
• Bryan Birch, British mathematician
• Charles Birch, in full Louis Charles Birch (1918–2009), Australian geneticist, theologian and author
• Charles Bell Birch (1832–1893), English sculptor
• Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer
• Christian Birch-Reichenwald
• Prof De Burgh Birch FRSE (1852-1937), English physiologist and author
• Diane Birch, musician
• Edmund Birch
• Elizabeth Birch
• Eugenius Birch
• Francis Birch (cryptographer) (1889–1956), British cryptographer and actor
• Francis Birch (geophysicist) (1903–1992), American geophysicist
• Gary Birch footballer
• Gina Birch
• Glynn Birch
• James W.W. Birch
• Jeff Birch (born 1927), English professional footballer
• John Birch (disambiguation)
• Lamorna Birch
• Margaret Birch
• Martin Birch
• Patricia Birch
• Paul Birch (disambiguation), various
• Penny Birch, pseudonym
• Percy Birch, English footballer
• Peter Birch-Reichenwald
• Raymond Birch
• Ric Birch
• Robert H. Birch, American western outlaw
• Rosalie Birch
• Ryan Birch (1969–2013), British judoka
• Samuel Birch
• Simon Birch
• Stanley F. Birch Jr.
• Thomas Birch
• Thora Birch
• Wallace Birch, footballer
• Walter de Gray Birch (1842-1924), historian
• William Birch (footballer), footballer

Fictional characters:

• Edna Birch
• Eve Birch
• Peter Birch (Emmerdale)
• Professor Birch, a character from the Pokémon series