Find the word definition

Crossword clues for birches

The Collaborative International Dictionary
Birches

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.

Wiktionary
birches

n. (plural of birch English) vb. (en-third-person singular of: birch)

Wikipedia
Birches (poem)

"Birches" is a poem by American poet Robert Frost. It was collected in Frost's third collection of poetry Mountain Interval that was published in 1916. Consisting of 59 lines, it is one of Robert Frost's most anthologized poems. The poem "Birches", along with other poems that deal with rural landscape and wildlife, shows Frost as a nature poet.

Usage examples of "birches".

It was reached by a long, green lane and almost hidden from view by an encircling growth of young birches.

It did not matter that the little squat apple-tree between Adam-and-Eve had become a thing of rose-and-snow beauty--that the hills beyond the hollow were of green silk, purple-misted--that the daffodils were out in the garden--that the birches were hung all over with golden tassels-- that the Wind Woman was blowing white young clouds across the sky.

She saw a big house peering whitely through a veil of tall old trees--no mushroom growth of yesterday's birches but trees that had loved and been loved by three generations--a glimpse of silver water glistening through the dark spruces--that was the Blair Water itself, she knew--and a tall, golden-white church spire shooting up above the maple woods in the valley below.

She wished SHE could get out and go home--she pictured herself and her cat running eagerly along the dark, starlit roads to the little house in the hollow--back to the birches and Adam-and-Eve and Mike, and the old wing-chair and her dear little cot and the open window where the Wind Woman sang to her and at dawn one could see the blue of the mist on the homeland hills.

Straight ahead, closing the vista between the orchards, was a little slope covered with huge white birches, among which were the big New Moon barns, and beyond the new orchard a little, lovable red road looped lightly up and up, over a hill, until it seemed to touch the vivid blue of the sky.

A sequestered side road, fringed thickly with young maples and birches, led down to Wyther Grange.

They were Gray Cloud's home village of Five Birches and the neighboring village of Shallow Stream.

So it was that the village of Five Birches had a minor ceremony and bestowed that new name on him.

He knew it was deserted, for the people of Five Birches had told him, but he had to see it for himself.

Not another word did she say until they had left the village and were driving down a steep little hill, the road part of which had been cut so deeply into the soft soil, that the banks, fringed with blooming wild cherry-trees and slim white birches, were several feet above their heads.

Below the garden a green field lush with clover sloped down to the hollow where the brook ran and where scores of white birches grew, upspringing airily out of an undergrowth suggestive of delightful possibilities in ferns and mosses and woodsy things generally.

There was long row of white birches hanging over the lake and the sunshine fell down through them, 'way, 'way down, deep into the water.

The birches in the hollow waved joyful hands as if watching for Anne's usual morning greeting from the east gable.

It was fringed in all its length with slim young birches, white stemmed and lissom boughed.

CHAPTER XVI Diana Is Invited to Tea with Tragic Results OCTOBER was a beautiful month at Green Gables, when the birches in the hollow turned as golden as sunshine and the maples behind the orchard were royal crimson and the wild cherry trees along the lane put on the loveliest shades of dark red and bronzy green, while the fields sunned themselves in aftermaths.