/pɜːtʃ/, /pɝt͡ʃ/
OriginFrom Middle English perche, from Old French perche, from Latin perca, from Ancient Greek πέρκη (pérkē, “perch”), cognate with περκνός (perknós, “dark-spotted”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ-, whence also Old English forn (“trout”), German Forelle (“trout”).
- Any of the three species of spiny-finned freshwater fish in the genus Perca.
- South-AfricaAcanthopagrus berda
- Distichodus engycephalus, Distichodus rostratus
- AustraliaJohnius belangerii, Macquaria ambigua, Macquaria colonorum, Macquaria novemaculeata, Nemadactylus macropterus
- USKyphosus azureus
- UKLateolabrax japonicus, Tautogolabrus adspersus
- Several similar species in the order Perciformes, such as the grouper.
- A rod, staff, tree branch, ledge, etc., used as a roost by a bird.
“We know him now: […] / Not making his high place the lawless perch / Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage-ground / For pleasure; […]”
- A pole connecting the fore gear and hind gear of a spring carriage; a reach.
- figurativelyA position that is secure and advantageous, especially one which is prominent or elevated.
“Last year, Eighth Grade found poignancy and humor in its eponymous time period: that purgatorial perch between childhood and adulthood.”
“[W]inning Wimbledon at just 19 years, earning her rightful place on the perch as world number one.”
- figurativelyA position that is overly elevated or haughty.
“You may thanke me, (Lady) / I haue taken you off your mellancholly pearch, / Boare you vpon my fiſt, and ſhew'd you game, / And let you flie at it: I pray the kiſſe me, […]”
- datedA linear measure of 5+¹⁄₂ yards, equal to a rod, a pole or ¹⁄₄ chain; the related square measure.
“The whole surface of the country is divided into irregular patches, following the undulations of the ground, from many acres to a few perches in extent, each of which is itself perfectly level, but st”
- A cubic measure of stonework equal to 16.6 × 1.5 × 1 feet.
- A frame used to examine cloth.
- A bar used to support a candle, especially in a church.
- A platform for lights to be directed at the stage.
- intransitiveTo rest on a perch (especially, of a bird); to roost.
“The macaw perched on Jim's shoulder.”
- intransitiveTo sit upon the edge of something.
“The platform was already crowded, but the newcomers threaded their way to the front amid a decorous murmur of welcome. Mr. Peeble shoved and exhorted and two end seats emerged upon which Enid and Malo”
- intransitiveTo stay in an elevated position.
- transitiveTo place something on (or as if on) a perch.
“The most obvious beneficiary of the visitors' superiority was Frank Lampard. By the end of the night he was perched 13th in the list of England's most prolific goalscorers, having leapfrogged Sir Geof”
- intransitive, transitiveTo inspect cloth using a perch.
- A surname.
- a type of freshwater fish
Formsperches(plural) · perch(plural) · perches(present, singular, third-person) · perching(participle, present) · perched(participle, past) · perched(past)