beck

Etymology 1

From Middle English bek, bekk, becc, from Old English bæc, bec, bæċe, beċe (“beck, brook”), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“stream”). Cognate with Old Norse bekkr (“a stream or brook”), Low German bek, beck, German Bach, Dutch beek, Swedish bäck, Doublet of batch. More at beach.

noun

1. (Norfolk, Northern English dialect) A stream or small river.
   Beck water cold and clear, will never clean your wound 1976, Archie Fisher (lyrics and music), “The Witch Of The West-Mer-Lands”, in The Man With A Rhyme, Sharon, CT: Folk Legacy Records

Etymology 2

From Middle English bekken, a shortened form of Middle English bekenen, from Old English bēcnan, bēacnian (“to signify; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *baukn, from Proto-Germanic *baukną (“beacon”). More at beacon.

noun

1. A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.

verb

1. (archaic) To nod or motion with the head.
   I'll buy so many acres of old Scotland and call them by the Lockerby's name; and I'll have nobles and great men come bowing and becking to David Lockerby as they do to Alexander Gordon. 1896, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Winter Evening Tales
   The becking waiter, that with wreathed smiles, wont to spread for Samuel and Bozzy their "supper of the gods," has long since pocketed his last sixpence; and vanished, sixpence and all, like a ghost at cock-crowing. 1881, Various, The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III

Etymology 3

See back.

noun

1. A vat.

Etymology 4

From Middle English bec, bek, from Old French bec (“beak”).

noun

1. Obsolete form of beak.