beck


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

beck 1

 (bĕk)
n.
A gesture of beckoning or summons.
Idiom:
at (someone's) beck and call
Ready to comply with any wish or command.

[Middle English bek, from bekken, to beckon, alteration of bekenen; see beckon.]

beck 2

 (bĕk)
n. Chiefly British
A small brook; a creek.

[Middle English, from Old Norse bekkr; see bhegw- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

beck

(bɛk)
n
1. a nod, wave, or other gesture or signal
2. at someone's beck and call ready to obey someone's orders instantly; subject to someone's slightest whim
[C14: short for becnen to beckon]

beck

(bɛk)
n
(Physical Geography) (in N England) a stream, esp a swiftly flowing one
[Old English becc, from Old Norse bekkr; related to Old English bece, Old Saxon beki, Old High German bah brook, Sanskrit bhanga wave]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

beck1

(bɛk)

n.
1. a gesture used to signal, summon, or direct someone.
2. Chiefly Scot. a bow or curtsy of greeting.
Idioms:
at someone's beck and call, subject to someone's every wish.
[1325–75; Middle English, short variant of becnen to beckon]

beck2

(bɛk)

n. Brit.
[1250–1300; Middle English becc < Old Norse bekkr; akin to Old English bece, Old Saxon beki, Old High German bah]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.beck - a beckoning gesturebeck - a beckoning gesture      
motion, gesture - the use of movements (especially of the hands) to communicate familiar or prearranged signals
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
رَهْنَ إشارَتِهِ، عَلى اسْتِعْداد دائِم
k službámna pokyn
hoppe og springe for
alltaf til taks, aî hlÿîa e-m
laukiantis tik mostelėjimotik pirštu pamojus
būt pilnīgi kāda rīcībā
emre amade/hazır

beck

1 [bek] N to be at the beck and call ofestar siempre a disposición de

beck

2 [bek] N (N Engl) → arroyo m, riachuelo m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

beck

[ˈbɛk] n
to be at sb's beck and call (= doing their bidding) → être à l'entière disposition de qn
I'm sick of being at his beck and call
BUT J'en ai marre d'être constamment à sa botte.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

beck

n to be (completely) at somebody’s beck and calljdm voll und ganz zur Verfügung stehen; I’m not at your beck and calldu kannst doch nicht so einfach über mich verfügen; his wife is completely at his beck and callseine Frau muss nach seiner Pfeife tanzen; to have somebody at one’s beck and calljdn zur ständigen Verfügung haben, ganz über jdn verfügen können
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

beck

[bɛk] n to be at sb's beck and calldover essere a completa disposizione di qn
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

beck

(bek) : at someone's beck and call
always ready to carry out someone's wishes. He has servants at his beck and call.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
I discovered, too, that a great pleasure, an enjoyment which the horizon only bounded, lay all outside the high and spike-guarded walls of our garden: this pleasure consisted in prospect of noble summits girdling a great hill-hollow, rich in verdure and shadow; in a bright beck, full of dark stones and sparkling eddies.
Beck's front parlor--fat and shabby, hoping somebody will invite you to dinner--spending your morning in learning a comic song--oh no!
"How she rode that kicking mare at Queen's Crawley!" And he would say to her in confidential moments, "By Jove, Beck, you're fit to be Commander-in- Chief, or Archbishop of Canterbury, by Jove." Is his case a rare one?
But that men fear him for that he hath the storms and the lightnings and all the devils that be in hell at his beck and call, they would have dug his en- trails out these many years ago to get at that tale and squelch it.
John Jasper invites the boy with a beck of his head to follow him
When they rose up from the ground, and took the shady track which led them through the wood, she bounded on before, printing her tiny footsteps in the moss, which rose elastic from so light a pressure and gave it back as mirrors throw off breath; and thus she lured the old man on, with many a backward look and merry beck, now pointing stealthily to some lone bird as it perched and twittered on a branch that strayed across their path, now stopping to listen to the songs that broke the happy silence, or watch the sun as it trembled through the leaves, and stealing in among the ivied trunks of stout old trees, opened long paths of light.
Gimmerton chapel bells were still ringing; and the full, mellow flow of the beck in the valley came soothingly on the ear.
The Sheriff thereupon planned three new expeditions into the greenwood, and was even brave enough to lead them, since he had fifteen-score men at his beck and call each time.
And they went on in silence through Kirton hamlet, where an old man followed them with his eyes, and perhaps envied them their youth and love; and across the Ivy beck where the mill was splashing and grumbling low thunder to itself in the chequered shadow of the dell, and the miller before the door was beating flour from his hands as he whistled a modulation; and up by the high spinney, whence they saw the mountains upon either hand; and down the hill again to the back courts and offices of Naseby House.
"Those who think so must want it themselves," said Seymour, in a low voice; then, obedient to the beck of one of the presiding nymphs, he hastened to take his share in the performance.
"Yes - trout - small but plenty of 'em - in a beck running close behind the cottage."
With her gay plumage, her "nods and becks and wreathed smiles," and her cheerful cackle, Huldah closely resembled the parrot in Wordsworth's poem:--