Word definition: reach

Etimology


From 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”).

verb


reach (third-person singular simple present reaches, present participle reaching, simple past and past participle reached or (obsolete) raught)

(intransitive) To extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand).

(transitive) To give to someone by stretching out a limb, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another person; to hand over.

(intransitive) To stretch out the hand.

(transitive) To 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.

(transitive, of a missile) To strike or touch.

(transitive, by extension) To extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut.

(transitive) To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent.

(transitive) To arrive at (a place) by effort of any kind.

(transitive, figurative) To make contact with.

(transitive, figurative) To connect with (someone) on an emotional level, making them receptive of (one); to get through to (someone).

(intransitive, India, Singapore) To arrive at a particular destination.

(transitive) To continue living until or up to (a certain age).

(obsolete) To understand; to comprehend.

To strain after something; to make (sometimes futile or pretentious) efforts.

(intransitive) To extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously (past, beyond, above, from etc. something).

(nautical) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.

(slang, MTE, MLE) To arrive at a particular destination, especially to join someone; to meet up.

Examples


He reached for a weapon that was on the table.

He reached for his shoe with his legs.

to reach someone a book

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.

His bullet reached its intended target.

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 descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.

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.

Patent filings for neural networks grew at a rate of 46 percent from 2013 to 2016, reaching 6,506, the study found.

Audio

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 Humane Penetration can reach, comes infinitely ſhort of its reality, and internal Conſtitution; for vvho can ſearch out the Almighty, or his vvorks to Perfection.

But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, […]. By the time we reached the house we were thanking our stars she had come. Mrs. Cooke came out from under the port-cochere to welcome her.

Synonyms: contact, get hold of, get in touch

I tried to reach you all day.

What will it take for me to reach him?

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.

In the event of your statement reaching later than 6th March, there will be chances of your requirement left and leading to difficulty of having to explain your excess or saving being as the case may be.

I suggest taking an earlier bus , reaching at around midnight, then taking a taxi to Changi.

When we reached at 7.30 a.m., we saw groups of men and women bracing themselves for the day's events by writing out posters or painting placards.

Once we reached, we parked our cars beneath the trees and started trekking up the hill after a brief round of introductions.

You can only access the inheritance money when you reach the age of 25.

Do what, sir? I reach you not.

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 you think you're reaching a bit; try something more attainable; you were never good in math; you're not quick on your feet; you're oblivious to the world around you.

The Thembu tribe reaches back for twenty generations to King Zwide.

Synonym: link 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."

noun


reach (plural reaches)

The act of stretching or extending; extension.

The ability to reach or touch with the person, a limb, or something held or thrown.

The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity.

Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope.

(informal) An exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch.

(boxing) The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.

(nautical) Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.

(nautical) The distance traversed between tacks.

(nautical) 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.

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.

(obsolete) An article to obtain an advantage.

The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.

Examples


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 their hearts—it takes them so long to die.

You like to hear about gold.A king filled his prison roomAs full as the room could holdTo the top of his reach on the wallWith every known shape of the stuff.

Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended.

Be sure yourself and your own reach to know.

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 becomes increasingly expensive as you go along .

To call George eloquent is certainly a reach.

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.

Close-hauled past flats at Island Gardens opposite the old Royal Naval College at Greenwich we’d been making more than seven knots over the ground and we came close enough to touch the wall. It had felt like roller-blading – long lee-bowed boards down the reaches of this historic river. They have such great names: Bugsby’s Reach, Gallions [Reach], Fiddler’s [Reach] or the evocative Lower Hope [Reach].

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 in their feathery fronds, set in motion by the slightest breeze.

Through eerie reach of ancient woods / Where lumbering mists arise / I journey for nines moons of the year / To where a land of legend lies

The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own, under hand, to cross the design.

verb


reach (third-person singular simple present reaches, present participle reaching, simple past and past participle reached)

(obsolete or dialect) Alternative form of retch.

noun


reach (plural reaches)

(obsolete or dialect) Alternative form of retch.

Data provided by Wiktionary