Etymology 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.
[…]Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie sets / The Bourns, the Brooks, the Becks, the Rills, the Rivilets[…]1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 1, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 3:
[…] the sky is blue, and the larks are singing, and the becks and brooks are all brim full.1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
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This is the boundary at Earnleie: First from Earesbrook and [qu. to] the short thorns, […] and from the tree to Tudelesbeck, along the beck to the Severn, up along the Severn to Leofric's boundary, […]1908, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, page 107:
Beck water cold and clear, will never clean your wound1976, Archie Fisher, “The Witch Of The West-Mer-Lands”, in The Man With A Rhyme, Sharon, CT: Folk Legacy Records:
The beck is crossed by a pretty ford and a number of bridges, and in spring the cottages look out over a dancing sea of daffodils.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 102:
Etymology 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.
When gold and silver becks me to come on.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
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:
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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:
beck
noun
Etymology 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.
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A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.
Ah, knovv you not the Citie fauours them, And they haue troupes of Souldiers at their beck?c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 147, column 2:
Haste thee nymph, and bring with thee Jest and youthful Jollity, Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles, Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles,1645, John Milton, L'Allegro:
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Then forthwith to him takes a choſen band Of Spirits likeſt to himſelf in guile To be at hand, and at his beck appear,1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 2:
The dog obeyed the significant beck of his finger, and they drew off, stealthily, together.1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC: