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Ebb vs Neap - What's the difference?

ebb | neap |

As nouns the difference between ebb and neap

is that ebb is the receding movement of the tide while neap is the tongue or pole of a cart or other vehicle drawn by two animals.

As verbs the difference between ebb and neap

is that ebb is to flow back or recede while neap is to trap a ship (or ship and crew) in water too shallow to move, due to the smaller tidal range occurring in a period of neap tides.

As adjectives the difference between ebb and neap

is that ebb is low, shallow while neap is designating a tide which occurs just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is least difference between high tide and low tide.

ebb

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The receding movement of the tide.
  • The boats will go out on the ebb .
  • * (rfdate) Shelley
  • Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!
  • A gradual decline.
  • * (rfdate) Roscommon
  • Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.
  • A low state; a state of depression.
  • * (rfdate) Dryden
  • Painting was then at its lowest ebb .
  • * 2002 , (Joyce Carol Oates), The New Yorker , 22 & 29 April
  • A "lowest ebb'" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "' ebb " might easily have lasted for years.
  • A European bunting, .
  • Derived terms

    * ebb and flow * ebb tide

    Antonyms

    * flood * flow

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to flow back or recede
  • The tides ebbed at noon .
  • to fall away or decline
  • The dying man's strength ebbed away .
  • to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
  • To cause to flow back.
  • (Ford)

    Synonyms

    ebb away, ebb down, ebb off, ebb out, reflux, wane

    Adjective

    (er)
  • low, shallow
  • The water there is otherwise very low and ebb . (Holland)
    ----

    neap

    English

    Etymology 1

    Perhaps of Scandinavian origin: compare dialectal Norwegian .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The tongue or pole of a cart or other vehicle drawn by two animals.
  • Etymology 2

    (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Designating a tide which occurs just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is least difference between high tide and low tide.
  • *
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To trap a ship (or ship and crew) in water too shallow to move, due to the smaller tidal range occurring in a period of neap tides.
  • * '>citation
  • Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anagrams

    * * *