ebb

Meanings

1. The receding movement of the tide.
2. A gradual decline.
3. A low state; a state of depression.
4. A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).

1. low, shallow

1. to flow back or recede
2. to fall away or decline
3. to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
4. To cause to flow back.

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.