n.
- a slender hardy tree with thin, peeling, silver-grey or white bark, which yields a hard pale wood.
[Betula pendula (silver birch) and related species.]
-
(the birch)
historical a formal punishment in which a person was flogged with a bundle of birch twigs.
v.
historical beat with the birch as a punishment.
Derivative
Etymology
OE bierce, birce, of Gmc origin.