Middle English Dictionary Entry
eb(be n.
Entry Info
| Forms | eb(be n. |
| Etymology | OE ebba. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1a.
(a) The flowing back, or ebbing, of tidal water; the outgoing tide, ebb-tide; also, low tide; at ebbe, at ebb-tide; an ebbe and a flod, a space of time equal to an ebb tide and a flood tide; (b) as pred.adj., at ebb.
Associated quotations
a
- a1121 Peterb.Chron.(LdMisc 636)an.1114 : On þis ylcan geare wæs swa mycel ebba æghwær anes dæges..swa þat man ferde ridende & gangende ofer Tæmese be eastan þære brigge on Lunden.
- (c1290) Britton 1 (Lamb 403)295 : Si acun disseisi eit esté en la Terre Sainte en simple pelrinage adounc soit acounté un an, et un ebbe et un flod pur les delays de la mer.
- c1330 SMChron.(Auch)2066 : Boþe in eb & in flowe.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)157a/b : Whan þe mone is oon and twenty daies olde þe see is atte þe loweste ebbe.
- ?a1400(a1338) Mannyng Chron.Pt.2 (Petyt 511)p.106 : Þe bodies..wer costen vp on þe sond, After an ebbe of þe flode.
- (a1405) Oath Bk.Colchester33 : I schal nat abyde yere but a ebbe and a floud.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)2.2013 : After an ebbe a flowe folweth ay.
- a1450(a1338) Mannyng Chron.Pt.1 (Lamb 131)12317 : Vntil þe ebbe a stounde þey bod, Wiþ þer hors, þen ouer þey rod.
- c1450 Ipotis (Add 36983)197 : Hit faruþ by þis worldus good As doþ by a nebe [vr. an hebbe] & a flood.
- c1475(c1450) Idley Instr.(Cmb Ee.4.37)2.A.2340 : Now highe, now lowe, as ebbis and floodis.
- ?c1475 Direct.Sailing in Hak.Soc.79 (Lnsd 285)11 : Yif ye have an ebbe go southest and by Est.
- a1500 Octav.(1) (Cmb Ff.2.38)490 : When hyt was ebbe and not flode, The schypmen and þe lady to londe yode.
- a1500 Degrev.(Cmb Ff.1.6)937 : At ebbe of þe see Þou shalt not wad to þe kne.
b
- a1500(?a1400) Torrent (Chet 8009)1846 : The see was eb, and went her ffroo.
1b.
Phrases: (a) half (or quarter ) ebbe, the state of the tide when its ebbing is half (or a quarter) completed; (b) ground ebbe, low water, also fig.; as pred.adj., at low water.
Associated quotations
a
- a1450(?a1400) ?Chaucer Astr.Suppl.(Bod 619:Benson-Robinson)46.21-2 : Whether it be, at that same tyme, flod or ebbe, or half flod, or quarter flod, or ebbe, or half or quarter ebbe.
b
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)157a/b : Þe first day of waxinge of þe mone..þe see is moste ful and hiȝe, and þer after he abateþ and waxeþ þe secounde so downewarde eueryche day anone to þe seueneþ day, and þanne þe see [is] in his laste defaute, grounde ebbe [L in ultimo defectu].
- a1400 Grete ferly (Roy 17.B.17)66 : Whe[n] a mon is at myscheue & happlesse, þo world to hym at þo grounde-ebbe þen es.
- c1460(?c1435) Lydg.Let.Glo.(Hrl 2255)20 : The flood was passyd and sodeynly of newe A lowh ground ebbe was faste by the stronde.
- a1450(1412) Hoccl.RP (Hrl 4866)669 : [God] withdrow þe flood Of welþe, & at grounde ebbe sette he me.
- ?c1450 St.Cuth.(Eg 3309)6680 : When þe se grounde eb bene.
2.
Fig. A period or state of recession, diminution, or decline; a phase of decrease following, or alternating with, a phase of increase.
Associated quotations
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)115a/b : By priuey passingis of kynde, flood & ebbe [L fluxus et refluxus]..in her [the moon's] wanyenge, þe mary of boones, þe brayn of þe heed, & þe humours of þe body ben maad lesse.
- (?a1430) Hoccl.BV(2) (Hnt HM 744)16 : The oyle of thy mercy flowith eueremore; Therin noon ebbe hath Dominacion.
- c1460(a1449) Lydg.Mutability MN (Hrl 2255)117 : The world vnsuyr, fortune transmutable..An ebbe of pouert next floodys of richesse.
- 1532-1897(c1385) Usk TL (Thynne:Skeat)7/87 : The sight that might al my wellinge sorowes voyde, and of the flode make an ebbe.