ebb

noun

1. The receding movement of the tide.

   “The boats will go out on the ebb.”

   “Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!”

   “Men come from distant parts to admire the tides of Solway, which race in at flood and retreat at ebb with a greater speed than a horse can follow.”

2. A gradual decline.

   “Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.”

   “This reflection thawed my congealing blood, and again the tide of life and love flowed impetuously onward, again to ebb as my busy thoughts changed.”

   “Industrialism hasn’t been an abiding set of activities in any particular place but rather a dynamic cycle, of takeoff, peak, and ebb.”

3. (especially)A low state; a state of depression.

   “Painting was then at its lowest ebb.”

   “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.”

   “The 1987 book British Piers was written at a time when Britain's seaside resorts were perhaps at their lowest ebb, with a groundswell of support for rejuvenation and conservation just beginning.”

4. A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).

adj

1. low, shallow

   “All the sea lying betweene, is verie ebbe, full of shallowes and shelves”

verb

1. (intransitive)to flow back or recede

   “The tides ebbed at noon.”

2. (intransitive)to fall away or decline

   “The dying man's strength ebbed away.”

3. (intransitive)to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
4. (transitive)To cause to flow back.

   “Parts of this town do not want a big influx of gay people and are trying to ebb it.”