Meaning of ebb | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The receding movement of the tide.
2. A gradual decline.
3. A low state; a state of depression.
   especially
4. A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).

Equivalents

Examples

“The boats will go out on the ebb.”

“Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!”

“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.”

“Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.”

“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.”

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

“Painting was then at its lowest ebb.”

“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.”

“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.”

CEFR level