ebb

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.

noun

1. The receding movement of the tide.
   The boats will go out on the ebb.
   Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality! 1824, Mary Shelley, Time
   Men come from distant parts to admire the tides of Solway, which race in at flood and retreat at ebb with a greater speed than a horse can follow. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
2. A gradual decline.
   Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away. 1684, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, Essay on Translated Verse
3. (especially in the phrase 'at a low ebb') A low state; a state of depression.
   2002, Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 22 & 29 April A "lowest ebb" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "ebb" might easily have lasted for years.
   The 1987 book British Piers was written at a time when Britain's seaside resorts were perhaps at their lowest ebb, with a groundswell of support for rejuvenation and conservation just beginning. July 29 2020, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railways that reach out over the waves”, in Rail, page 51
4. A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).

verb

1. (intransitive) to flow back or recede
   The tides ebbed at noon.
2. (intransitive) to fall away or decline
   The dying man's strength ebbed away.
3. (intransitive) to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
4. (transitive) To cause to flow back.

adj

1. low, shallow