Forms: 1 ebba, 4–6 ebbe, 7 eb, 7– ebb. [OE. ebba = OFris. ebba, Du. ebbe, eb: the mod.G. ebbe, Da. ebbe, Sw. ebb, are not native in those langs., and Fr. èbe is, like other nautical terms, adopted from Eng. The ultimate etymology is uncertain: the OTeut. type might be *aƀjon-, f. the prep. aƀ off; or *eƀjon-, connected with Goth. ibuks backwards.]
1. The reflux of the tide; the return of tide-water towards the sea. Often in phrase ebb and flow; also tide of ebb, half-quarter-ebb.
a. 1000. Byrhtnoth, 65 (Gr.). Þar com flowende flod æfter ebban.
a. 1123. O. E. Chron., an. 1114. On þis ʓeare wæs swa mycel ebba.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Langt. (1810), 106. Þe bodies … wer costen vpon þe sond, After an ebbe of þe flode.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 135. Ebbe of the see, refluxus, salaria.
1561. Eden, Arte Nauig., II. xviii. 50. Whiche the Mariners call nepe tydes, lowe ebbs … or lowe fluddes.
1603. Drayton, Bar. Wars, I. xxxix. 14. As Seuerne lately in her ebbs that sanke.
1665. in Phil. Trans., I. 54. The Flood runs East … and the Ebb West.
1762. Borlase, ibid. LII. 418. The sea advancing the first time to a quarter ebb; but the second advance was but as far as the sea reaches at half ebb.
1832. De la Beche, Geol. Man., 69. During the freshets the ebb and flow are little felt.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxvii. We … made sail, stemming the last of the ebb.
2. transf. and fig. A flowing away backward or downward; decline, decay; a change from a better to a worse state.
c. 1400. Test. Love, I. (1560), 273/1. That sight … might all my welling sorrowes voide, and of the flood make an ebbe.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, Ded. *.ij. Not coueting to make of my floudde, a nother mannes ebbe.
1652. J. Hall, Height Eloquence, Introd. 20. This … was the Ebbe of his greatnesse.
1713. Addison, Cato, II. v. 80. To shed the slow remains, His last poor ebb of blood, in your defence.
1823. Byron, Island, III. iv. His faintness came … from … nature’s ebb.
1870. Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 279. Her ebbs and flows of passion.
b. A point or condition of decline or depression, esp. in phrases to be at an ebb, at a low, lowest ebb. Also poet. of the eyes. At ebb: dry.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 435. Mine eyes (neuer since at ebbe) beheld … my Father wrack’t.
1631. T. Powell, Tom All Trades, 3. The low water ebbe of the evill day.
1654. Warren, Unbelievers, 134. To make the Apostle reason at a very low ebbe.
1763. J. Brown, Poetry & Mus., vii. 154. Private and public Virtue were at the lowest Ebb.
1798. in Bay, Amer. Law Rep. (1809), I. 36. In 1780 money was at its lowest ebb.
1876. Green, Short Hist., ix. (1878), 698. The fortunes of France reached their lowest ebb.
3. attrib. and Comb., as ebb-tide, etc. Also ebb-sleeper, a bird; = DUNLIN.
1699. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Ebb-water, when there’s but little Money in the Pocket.
1837. R. Dunn, Ornith. Ork. & Shetl., 87. Tringa variabilis, Meyer. Ebb-sleeper. Dunlin.
1837. Marryat, Dog-fiend, xxix. They were … swept out of the harbour by the strong ebb tide.
1849. Grote, Greece (1862), V. II. lxiii. 448. They began to feel as if the ebb-tide had reached its lowest point.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 65. I was introduced also, in our ebb excursions, to the cuttle-fish.
† 4. [? f. the adj.] pl. Shallows.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., I. 59/2. Brigantines with flat kiles to serue for the ebbes & shallowe shelues.
5. [? a distinct word.] The Common Bunting, Emberiza miliaria. dial.
1802. G. Montagu, Ornith. Dict. (1833), 61.
