birch

plural birches

1. countableuncountableAny of various trees of the genus Betula, native to countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
2. countableuncountableA hard wood taken from the birch tree, typically used to make furniture.
3. countableuncountableA stick, rod or bundle of twigs made from birch wood, used for punishment.

   Synonyms: makepeace, switch

4. countableuncountableA birch-bark canoe.

present singular third person birches · participle present birching · participle past birched · past birched

1. transitiveTo punish with a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.
2. transitiveTo punish as though one were using a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.

   […] and was tied to a tree and soundly birched with a bundle of furze

   2012, Charles J. Esdaile, Outpost of Empire: The Napoleonic Occupation of Andalucia, 1810–1812, page 319

   2 more examples

   That the morrow would see us arraigned 'fore the Head And probably birched with a willow

   1902, M. M. Read, “The Midnight Feast”, in The Boy's Own Annual, volume 25, page 63

   The Mexica were always washing, in water obtained through the aqueduct, or in the lake, and would often go to the popular baths in the numerous stone steam houses (where birching, with grasses, or massage was also available).

   2013, Hugh Thomas, Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico, page 292

plural Birches · plural rare Birchs

1. A surname.
2. A nickname of the surname Birchall.
3. A village and civil parish in Colchester borough, Essex, England (OS grid ref TL9419).
4. A small village in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England (OS grid ref SD8507).
5. A township in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States.
6. An extinct town in Eureka County, Nevada, United States.
7. A town in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, United States.
8. An unincorporated community in the town of Sanborn, Ashland County, Wisconsin.