/ɹiːt͡ʃ/
OriginFrom 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”).
- intransitiveTo extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand).
“He reached for a weapon that was on the table.”
“He reached for his shoe with his legs.”
- transitiveTo give to someone by stretching out a limb, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another person; to hand over.
“to reach someone a book”
- intransitiveTo stretch out the hand.
- transitiveTo 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.
“to reach an object with the hand, or with a spear”
““I can't quite reach the pepper. Could you pass it to me?””
“The gun was stored in a small box on a high closet shelf, but the boy managed to reach it by climbing on other boxes.”
- transitiveTo strike or touch.
“His bullet reached its intended target.”
- broadly, transitiveTo extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut.
“A few words, lovingly, encouragingly spoken failed to reach her heart.”
“Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I de”
- transitiveTo extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent.
“his hand reaches the river”
“When the forest reaches the river, you will be able to rest.”
“Thy desire […] leads to no excess / That reaches blame.”
- transitiveTo arrive at (a place) by effort of any kind.
“After three years, he reached the position of manager.”
“The climbers reached the top of the mountain after a gruelling ten-day hike.”
“I am very Senſible, the beſt accounts of the Appearances of Nature (in any ſingle Inſtance hovv minute or ſimple ſoever) Humane Penetration can reach, comes infinitely ſhort of its reality, and intern”
- figuratively, transitiveTo make contact with.
“I tried to reach you all day.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo connect with (someone) on an emotional level, making them receptive of (one); to get through to (someone).
“What will it take for me to reach him?”
“Whether by design or driven by the force of circumstances, they have always directed their main effort toward gaining the support of this "elite," while the more conservative groups have acted, as reg”
- India, Singapore, intransitiveTo arrive at a particular destination.
“The particulars that reach from Eastern Bengal require corroboration.”
“I reached at the right time.”
“It should be noted that Hare Krishna Konar, an arch leftist, could not vote on the Bhupesh Gupta—S.K. Achaiya issue as he reached late.”
- transitiveTo continue living until or up to (a certain age).
“You can only access the inheritance money when you reach the age of 25.”
- obsoleteTo understand; to comprehend.
“Do what, sir? I reach you not.”
- To strain after something; to make (sometimes futile or pretentious) efforts.
“Reach for your dreams.”
“Reach for the stars!”
“Repetitious comments are other examples of introjects that we take on as if they were truths. These include: You're lazy; you're selfish; you'll never amount to anything; you have big dreams; don't yo”
- intransitiveTo extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously (past, beyond, above, from etc. something).
“The Thembu tribe reaches back for twenty generations to King Zwide.”
- To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
- Multicultural-London-English, slangTo arrive at a particular destination, especially to join someone; to meet up.
“What time you reaching tomorrow?”
“If you're calling out at your homies to come over and hang out, you just simply say "reach."”
- The act of stretching or extending; extension.
- The ability to reach or touch with the person, a limb, or something held or thrown.
“The fruit is beyond my reach.”
“to be within reach of cannon shot”
“[…] and we have learned not to fire at any of the dinosaurs unless we can keep out of their reach for at least two minutes after hitting them in the brain or spine, or five minutes after puncturing th”
- The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity.
“Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended.”
“Be sure yourself and your own reach to know.”
- Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope.
“And on the left hand, hell, / With long reach, interposed.”
“I am to pray you not to strain my speech / To grosser issues, nor to larger reach / Than to suspicion.”
“While points measure the number of times the average person in a group sees an ad, reach measures the percentage of people in a group that see an ad at least once. Increasing the reach of an ad become”
- informalAn exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch.
“To call George eloquent is certainly a reach.”
- The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.
- Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.
- The distance traversed between tacks.
- 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.
“the gulfe Iasius, and all the coast thereof is very full of creekes and reaches.”
“The river's wooded reach.”
“The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return.”
- A level stretch of a watercourse, as between rapids in a river or locks in a canal. (examples?)
- An extended portion or area of land or water.
“Lower down, in a little reach of the lagoon there grew a clump of casuarinas, those timid isolates that withdraw from other trees, selecting their own privacy, which is for ever whispering secrets up ”
“2002, Russell Allen, "Incantations of the Apprentice", on Symphony X, The Odyssey.
Through eerie reach of ancient woods / Where lumbering mists arise / I journey for nines moons of the year / To where”
- obsoleteAn article to obtain an advantage.
“The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own, under hand, to cross the design.”
- The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.
“They leaped ahead just as Ruth came to the side of the long reach that connected the small pair of front wheels with the huge wheels in the rear.”
- abbreviation, acronym, alt-ofAcronym of Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals.
“A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which is responsible for the UK’s registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (UK Reach), sa”
- A village and civil parish in East Cambridgeshire district, Cambridgeshire, England (OS grid ref TL5666).
- A former township in the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, Canada, now part of the township of Scugog.
Formsreaches(present, singular, third-person) · reaching(participle, present) · reached(participle, past) · reached(past) · raught(obsolete, participle, past) · raught(obsolete, past) · reach(infinitive) · reach(first-person, present, singular) · reached(first-person, past, singular) · raught(archaic, first-person, past, singular) · rought(archaic, first-person, past, singular) · reach(present, second-person, singular) · reachest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · reached(past, second-person, singular) · reachedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · raught(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · rought(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · reacheth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · reached(past, singular, third-person) · raught(archaic, past, singular, third-person)