SG Heritage Dictionary

Birch [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. burch. A genus of trees, the Betula, of which there are several species; as the white or common birch the dwarf birch the Canada birch of which there are several varieties, and the common black birch

2. BIRCH of Jamaica, a species of the Pistacia or turpentine tree.

3. BIRCH

Birch [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Of or pertaining to the birch; birchen.

Birch [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A tree of several species, constituting the genus Betula; as, the white or common birch (B. alba) (also called silver birch and lady birch); the dwarf birch (B. glandulosa); the paper or canoe birch (B. papyracea); the yellow birch (B. lutea); the black or cherry birch (B. lenta).

2. The wood or timber of the birch.

3. A birch twig or birch twigs, used for flogging.

4. A birch-bark canoe.

Birch [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To whip with a birch rod or twig; to flog.

Birch Encyclopedia Britannica

BIRCH(Betula), a genus of arboraceous plants constituting the principal portion of the natural order Betulaceoe. The various species of birch are mostly trees of medium size, but several of them are merely shrubs. They are as a rule of a very hardy character, thriving best in northern latitudes,—the trees having round, slender branches, and serrate deciduous leaves, with barren and fertile catkins on the same tree and winged seeds. The bark in most of the trees occurs in fine soft membranous layers, the outer cuticle of which peels off in thin white papery sheets. The common birch (Â alba) grows throughout the greater part of Europe, and also in Asia Minor, Siberia, and North America, reaching in the north to the extreme limits of forest vegetation, and stretching southward on the European continent as a forest tree to 45 3 N. lat., beyond which birches occur only in special situations or as isolated trees. It is one of the most wide-spread and generally useful of forest trees of Russia, occurring in that empire in vast forests, in many instances alone, and in other cases mingled with pines, poplars, and other forest trees. The wood is highly valued by carriage-builders, upholsterers, and turners, on account of its toughness and tenacity, and in Russia it is prized as firewood and a source of charcoal. A very extensive domestic industry in Russia consists in the manufacture of wooden spoons, which are made to the extent of 30,000,000 annually, mostly of birch. Its pliant and flexible branches are made into brooms; and in ancient Rome the fasces of the lictors, with which they cleared the way for the magistrates, were made up of birch rods. A similar use of birch rods has continued among pedagogues to times so recent that the birch is yet, literally or metaphorically, ...

BIRCH, Thomas, historical and biographical writer, and one of the early trustees and benefactors of the British Museum, was born in London, November 23, 1705. He was the son of a coffee-mill maker, and was to have followed his father’s business; but his active mind and ambition of higher pursuits led him into the paths of literature. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, and therefore he had not the advantages of a university training. But by persevering application to study and to teaching he qualified himself for the ministry of the Church of England. In 1728 he obtained a curacy, and in the same year he married. His wife died in the following year. He was ordained priest in December 1731, and was soon after recommended to the favour of Philip Yorke, then attorney-general, afterwards Lord Chancellor and earl of Hardwicke, to whom he owed his successive preferments in the church. His first benefice was the vicarage of Ulting in Essex. In 1734 he was appointed domestic chaplain to the earl of Kilmarnock, who was beheaded for his share in the rebellion of ’45. He afterwards held successively benefices in Pembrokeshire, Gloucestershire, and the city of London. His last church preferment was to the rectory of Depden in Essex, to which he was presented in February 1761. In his latter years he was appointed chaplain to the princess Amelia. His literary attainments procured him election as a fellow of the Royal Society in February 1735, and in the following December he was chosen a member of the Society of Antiquaries. He held the office of Secretary to the Royal Society for thirteen years 1752-1765. From the university of Aberdeen he received the degrees first of M.A., and afterwards (1753) of D.D. The degree of D.D. was also conferred on him about the same time by the archbishop of Canterbury. Dr Birch was engaged in a large number of literary undertakings. His appetite and his capacity for hard work were extraordinary. Besides his diversified labours of compilation and editing, he transcribed many volumes in the library of Lambeth Palace, and carried on an extensive correspondence with literary men. He was an early riser; and amidst all his labours he found time to take part in social enjoyments. He was only in his sixty-first year when he was killed by a fall from his horse in Hampstead Road, January 9, 1766. He bequeathed his books and manuscripts, with part of his pictures and prints, to the British Museum. The rest of his property, in value about £500, he gave to be invested in Government securities, the interest to be applied in augmenting the salaries of the three assistant librarians.

His principal publications were—1. The General Dictionary, Historical and Critical, including a new translation of Bayle, and interspersed with several thousand new lives, in 10 volumes fol., 1734- 1741. 2. Thurloe’s State Papers, 7 τ<Λs. folio, 1742. 3. Dr Cud worth's Intellectual System, improved from the Latin edition of Mosheim; his Discourse on the true Notion of the Lord's Supper; and two Sermons, with an Account of his Life and Writings, 2 vols. 4to, 17/3. 4. The Life of the Honourable Robert Boyle, 1744, prefixed ro an edition of that philosopher’s works. 5. The Lives of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, to accompany the engravings of Houbraken and Vertue, 1747-1752. 6. An Inquiry into the Share which King Charles 1. had in the Transactions of the Earl of Glamorgan, 1747, 8vo. 7. An edition of Spenser s Faery Queen, 1751, 3 vols. 4to, with prints from designs by Kent. 8. The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Walter Raleigh, with his Life, 1751, 2 vols. 8vo. 9. The Theological, Moral, Dramatic, and Poetical Works of Mrs Catherine Cockburn, with a Life, 1751, 2 vols. 8vo. 10. The Life of Dr Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, compiled chiefly from his Original Papers and Letters, 1762, 8vo. 11. Milton’s Prose Works, 1753, 2 vols. 4to, with a Life. 12. Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, from the year 1581 till her death; illustrated from the original papers of Anthony Bacon, Esq., and from other MSS., 1754, 2 vols. 4to. 13. The History of the Royal Society of London, 1756 and 1757, 4 vols. 4to. 14. The Life of Henry Prince of Wales, eldest son of James I., compiled chiefly from his own apers and other MSS., 1760, 8vo. 15. The Letters, Speeches, <kc., of Lord Chancellor Bacon. His numerous communications to the Royal Society may be seen in the Philosophical Transactions.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3, p. 697
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Birched [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Birch

Birchen [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Made of birch; consisting of birch.

Birchen [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Of or relating to birch.

Birches [Plural] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Birch

Birching [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Birch