reach

English Online Dictionary. What means reach‎? What does reach mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: rēch, IPA^(key): /ɹiːt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -iːtʃ
• Homophone: reech

Etymology 1

From Middle English rechen, from Old English rǣċan (“to reach”), from Proto-West Germanic *raikijan, from Proto-Germanic *raikijaną, from the Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- (“to bind, reach”).

Verb

reach (third-person singular simple present reaches, present participle reaching, simple past and past participle reached or (obsolete) raught)

1. (intransitive) To extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand).

2. (transitive) To give to someone by stretching out a limb, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another person; to hand over.

3. (intransitive) To stretch out the hand.
4. (transitive) To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; to extend some part of the body, or something held, so as to touch, strike, grasp, etc.

5. (transitive, of a missile) To strike or touch.

6. (transitive, by extension) To extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut.
7. (transitive) To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent.

8. (transitive) To arrive at (a place) by effort of any kind.
9. (transitive, figurative) To make contact with.

   Synonyms: contact, get hold of, get in touch

10. (transitive, figurative) To connect with (someone) on an emotional level, making them receptive of (one); to get through to (someone).

11. (intransitive, India, Singapore) To arrive at a particular destination.
12. (transitive) To continue living until or up to (a certain age).

13. (obsolete) To understand; to comprehend.
14. To strain after something; to make (sometimes futile or pretentious) efforts.
15. (intransitive) To extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously (past, beyond, above, from etc. something).
16. (nautical) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
17. (slang, MTE, MLE) To arrive at a particular destination, especially to join someone; to meet up.

    Synonym: link up

Usage notes

• In the past, raught, rought and retcht could be found as past tense forms; these are now obsolete, except perhaps in some dialects.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

reach (plural reaches)

1. The act of stretching or extending; extension.
2. The ability to reach or touch with the person, a limb, or something held or thrown.
3. The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity.
4. Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope.
5. (informal) An exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch.

6. (boxing) The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.
7. (nautical) Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.
8. (nautical) The distance traversed between tacks.
9. (nautical) A stretch of a watercourse which can be sailed in one reach (in the previous sense). An extended portion of water; a stretch; a straightish portion of a stream, river, or arm of the sea extending up into the land, as from one turn to another. By extension, the adjacent land.
   • December 2011, Dan Houston, Sailing a classic yacht on the Thames, Classic Boat Magazine

     Close-hauled past flats at Island Gardens opposite the old Royal Naval College at Greenwich we’d been making more than seven knots over the ground and we came close enough to touch the wall. It had felt like roller-blading – long lee-bowed boards down the reaches of this historic river. They have such great names: Bugsby’s Reach, Gallions [Reach], Fiddler’s [Reach] or the evocative Lower Hope [Reach].

10. A level stretch of a watercourse, as between rapids in a river or locks in a canal. (examples?)
11. An extended portion or area of land or water.
    • 2002, Russell Allen, "Incantations of the Apprentice", on Symphony X, The Odyssey.

12. (obsolete) An article to obtain an advantage.
13. The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

reach (third-person singular simple present reaches, present participle reaching, simple past and past participle reached)

1. (obsolete or dialect) Alternative form of retch.

Noun

reach (plural reaches)

1. (obsolete or dialect) Alternative form of retch.

References

Anagrams

• Arche, acher, arche, chare, chear, rache

Mòcheno

Etymology

From Middle High German rēch, from Old High German rēh, from Proto-West Germanic *raihō, from Proto-Germanic *raihô, *raihą (“deer”). Cognate with German Reh, English roe.

Noun

reach n

1. roe deer

References

• “reach” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

West Frisian

Etymology

If related to Old English ragu (“moss”), compare Russian ракита (rakita, “broom, willow tree”), which could be from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷ- (“bend”).

Noun

reach n (plural reagen, diminutive reachje)

1. spiderweb

References

Further reading

• “reach”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011