perch
1 Americannoun
-
a pole or rod, usually horizontal, serving as a roost for birds.
-
any place or object, as a sill, fence, branch, or twig, for a bird, animal, or person to alight or rest upon.
-
a high or elevated position, resting place, or the like.
-
a small, elevated seat for the driver of any of certain vehicles.
-
a pole connecting the fore and hind running parts of a spring carriage or other vehicle.
-
a post set up as a navigational aid on a navigational hazard or on a buoy.
-
British.
-
a linear or square rod.
-
a measure of volume for stone, about 24 cubic feet (0.7 cubic meters).
-
-
Textiles. an apparatus consisting of two vertical posts and a horizontal roller, used for inspecting cloth after it leaves the loom.
-
Obsolete. any pole, rod, or the like.
verb (used without object)
-
to alight or rest upon a perch.
-
to settle or rest in some elevated position, as if on a perch.
verb (used with object)
-
to set or place on or as if on a perch.
-
to inspect (cloth) for defects and blemishes after it has been taken from the loom and placed upon a perch.
noun
plural
perch,plural
perches-
any spiny-finned, freshwater food fish of the genus Perca, as P. flavescens yellow perch, of the U.S., or P. fluviatilis, of Europe.
-
any of various other related, spiny-finned fishes.
-
any of several embioticid fishes, as Hysterocarpus traski tule perch of California.
noun
-
a pole, branch, or other resting place above ground on which a bird roosts or alights
-
a similar resting place for a person or thing
-
another name for rod
-
a solid measure for stone, usually taken as 198 inches by 18 inches by 12 inches
-
a pole joining the front and rear axles of a carriage
-
a frame on which cloth is placed for inspection
-
obsolete a pole
verb
-
(usually foll by on) to alight, rest, or cause to rest on or as if on a perch
the bird perched on the branch
the cap was perched on his head
-
(tr) to inspect (cloth) on a perch
noun
-
any freshwater spiny-finned teleost fish of the family Percidae, esp those of the genus Perca, such as P. fluviatilis of Europe and P. flavescens ( yellow perch ) of North America: valued as food and game fishes
-
any of various similar or related fishes
Other Word Forms
- perchable adjective
- percher noun
Etymology
Origin of perch1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English perche, perdge, preche, from Old French, from Latin pertica “pole, staff, measuring rod”
Origin of perch2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English perche, from Middle French, from Latin perca, from Greek pérkē, feminine of adjective pérkos “having dark spots, spotted, speckled”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the camera follows a suburban Chicago street sweeper along its early morning route, it stops at a modest house, perched on the other side of the train tracks.
From Salon
And the previously published image with a young woman perched next to him on an armrest.
From BBC
“I used this telescope,” she said, flying over to the ship’s bow and perching upon a long brass tube mounted on a tripod.
From Literature
A churring squirrel was perched on an arm of the cross.
From Literature
Four-lane highways now dominate long stretches of the seaside, where the landmark sight of fishermen perched over the waves grows ever-rarer.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
