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Perch   /pərtʃ/   Listen
noun
perch  n.  (Written also pearch)  (Zool.)
1.
Any fresh-water fish of the genus Perca and of several other allied genera of the family Percidae, as the common American or yellow perch (Perca flavescens syn. Perca Americana), and the European perch (Perca fluviatilis).
2.
Any one of numerous species of spiny-finned fishes belonging to the Percidae, Serranidae, and related families, and resembling, more or less, the true perches.
Black perch.
(a)
The black bass.
(b)
The flasher.
(c)
The sea bass.
Blue perch, the cunner.
Gray perch, the fresh-water drum.
Red perch, the rosefish.
Red-bellied perch, the long-eared pondfish.
Perch pest, a small crustacean, parasitic in the mouth of the perch.
Silver perch, the yellowtail.
Stone perch, or Striped perch, the pope.
White perch, the Roccus Americanus, or Morone Americanus, a small silvery serranoid market fish of the Atlantic coast.


Perch  n.  
1.
A pole; a long staff; a rod; esp., a pole or other support for fowls to roost on or to rest on; a roost; figuratively, any elevated resting place or seat. "As chauntecleer among his wives all Sat on his perche, that was in his hall." "Not making his high place the lawless perch Of winged ambitions."
2.
(a)
A measure of length containing five and a half yards; a rod, or pole.
(b)
In land or square measure: A square rod; the 160th part of an acre.
(c)
In solid measure: A mass 16½ feet long, 1 foot in height, and 1½ feet in breadth, or 24¾ cubic feet (in local use, from 22 to 25 cubic feet); used in measuring stonework.
3.
A pole connecting the fore gear and hind gear of a spring carriage; a reach.


verb
Perch  v. t.  
1.
To place or to set on, or as on, a perch.
2.
To occupy as a perch.


Perch  v. i.  (past & past part. perched; pres. part. perching)  To alight or settle, as a bird; to sit or roost. "Wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Perch" Quotes from Famous Books



... late, and sorely he longed that the lady might not leave his house altogether unhonoured, and yet to crave help of his own husbandman was more than his pride could brook. In these desperate straits his glance happened to fall on his brave falcon on his perch in his little parlour. And so, as a last resource, he took him, and finding him plump, deemed that he would make a dish meet for such a lady. Wherefore, without thinking twice about it, he wrung the bird's neck, and ...
— The Decameron, Vol. II. • Giovanni Boccaccio
... Whoop-la into five minutes of active bucking, then she leaped from the saddle and came to perch on the fence beside Douglas. Her gaze wandered from his wistful face to the eternal crimson and orange clouds rolling ...
— Judith of the Godless Valley • Honore Willsie
... Mrs. Lowder's recommendation that nothing should be said to Kate—it was on this rich attitude of Aunt Maud's that the idea of an interesting complication might best hope to perch; and when, in fact, after the colloquy we have reported Milly saw Kate again without mentioning any name, her silence succeeded in passing muster with her as the beginning of a new sort of fun. The sort was all the newer by reason of its containing a small element of anxiety: when she ...
— The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2 • Henry James
... piece of branch in one hand, the bird in the other. He glanced at us to see if we were watching him, and then smoothing the feathers quickly, he began to buzz and whirr like a beetle, as cleverly as a ventriloquist. Next he made the dead bird he held dart from its perch, and imitated the quick flight of one chasing a large beetle through the air, catching it, and returning to its perch, where with wonderful accuracy he went through the movements of it swallowing its prey, and then ruffling itself up again into a ...
— Through Forest and Stream - The Quest of the Quetzal • George Manville Fenn
... the door brought no response, however, and just as they turned to go, Gyp, the ever present Gyp, howled a bit of news from his perch on the roof of the ...
— Princess Polly's Playmates • Amy Brooks


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