ebb

plural ebbs · alternative ebbe

1. The receding movement of the tide.

   The boats will go out on the ebb.

   2 more examples

   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

   2 more examples

   This reflection thawed my congealing blood, and again the tide of life and love flowed impetuously onward, again to ebb as my busy thoughts changed.

   1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC

   Industrialism hasn’t been an abiding set of activities in any particular place but rather a dynamic cycle, of takeoff, peak, and ebb.

   2012, James Howard Kunstler, Too Much Magic, page 74

3. especiallyA low state; a state of depression.

   Painting was then at its lowest ebb.

   1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   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.

   2002, Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, number 22 & 29 April

   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.

   2020 July 29, 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).

comparative ebber · superlative ebbest · alternative ebbe

1. low, shallow

   All the sea lying betweene, is verie ebbe, full of shallowes and shelves

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC

present singular third person ebbs · participle present ebbing · participle past ebbed · past ebbed · alternative ebbe

1. intransitiveto flow back or recede

   The tides ebbed at noon.

   Synonyms: go out, go down, ooze, reflux, wane

2. intransitiveto fall away or decline

   The dying man's strength ebbed away.

3. intransitiveto fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
4. transitiveTo cause to flow back.

   Parts of this town do not want a big influx of gay people and are trying to ebb it.

   1977 August 20, Robin Nicholson, quotee, “7 Arrested in Undercover Raid on P'town Bar”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 1