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Reach   /ritʃ/   Listen
verb
Reach  v. t.  (past & past part. reached, obs. raught; pres. part. reaching)  
1.
To extend; to stretch; to thrust out; to put forth, as a limb, a member, something held, or the like. "Her tresses yellow, and long straughten, Unto her heeles down they raughten." "Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side." "Fruit trees, over woody, reached too far Their pampered boughs."
2.
Hence, to deliver by stretching out a member, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another; to hand over; as, to reach one a book. "He reached me a full cup."
3.
To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; to extend some part of the body, or something held by one, so as to touch, strike, grasp, or the like; as, to reach an object with the hand, or with a spear. "O patron power,... thy present aid afford, Than I may reach the beast."
4.
To strike, hit, or touch with a missile; as, to reach an object with an arrow, a bullet, or a shell.
5.
Hence, to extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut, as far as. "If these examples of grown men reach not the case of children, let them examine."
6.
To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent; as, his land reaches the river. "Thy desire... leads to no excess That reaches blame."
7.
To arrive at; to come to; to get as far as. "Before this letter reaches your hands."
8.
To arrive at by effort of any kind; to attain to; to gain; to be advanced to. "The best account of the appearances of nature which human penetration can reach, comes short of its reality."
9.
To understand; to comprehend. (Obs.) "Do what, sir? I reach you not."
10.
To overreach; to deceive. (Obs.)



Reach  v. i.  To retch.



Reach  v. i.  
1.
To stretch out the hand. "Goddess humane, reach, then, and freely taste!"
2.
To strain after something; to make efforts. "Reaching above our nature does no good."
3.
To extend in dimension, time, amount, action, influence, etc., so as to touch, attain to, or be equal to, something. "And behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven." "The new world reaches quite across the torrid zone."
4.
(Naut.) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
To reach after or To reach for or To reach at, to make efforts to attain to or obtain. "He would be in the posture of the mind reaching after a positive idea of infinity."



Retch  v. i.  (past & past part. retched; pres. part. retching)  (Written also reach)  To make an effort to vomit; to strain, as in vomiting. "Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching! (Here he grew inarticulate with retching.)"



noun
Reach  n.  An effort to vomit. (R.)



Reach  n.  
1.
The act of stretching or extending; extension; power of reaching or touching with the person, or a limb, or something held or thrown; as, the fruit is beyond my reach; to be within reach of cannon shot.
2.
The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity. "Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended." "Be sure yourself and your own reach to know."
3.
Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope. "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."
4.
An extended portion of land or water; a stretch; a straight portion of a stream or river, as from one turn to another; a level stretch, as between locks in a canal; an arm of the sea extending up into the land. "The river's wooded reach." "The coast... is very full of creeks and reaches."
5.
An artifice to obtain an advantage. "The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own underhand to cross the design."
6.
The pole or rod which connects the hind axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Reach" Quotes from Famous Books



... sit still. Perhaps you arrive at your destination in a rain-storm at ten at night—you generally do. The multitude spend half an hour verifying their baggage and getting it transferred to the omnibuses; but the courier puts you into a vehicle without a moment's loss of time, and when you reach your hotel you find your rooms have been secured two or three days in advance, everything is ready, you can go at once to bed. Some of those other people will have to drift around to two or three hotels, in the rain, before ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... and Saracen; and in both poets the inmost theme is broadly the same. It is the consciousness of modern Europe. Jerusalem Delivered and the Lusiads are drenched with the spirit of the Renaissance; and that is chiefly responsible for their lovely poetry. But they reach out towards the new Europe that was then just beginning. Europe making common cause against the peoples that are not Europe; Europe carrying her domination round the world—is that what Tasso and Camoens ultimately mean? It would ...
— The Epic - An Essay • Lascelles Abercrombie

... thwarted. Henceforth he was reduced to trust solely to the compass in the binnacle. Very evidently no one was responsible for the breaking of the second compass, but it might have sad consequences. The novice then took every precaution to keep the other compass beyond the reach ...
— Dick Sand - A Captain at Fifteen • Jules Verne

... to look at Crosbie, who was fidgeting to get away to his office, to whom no power of choosing in the matter was really given, and whom the men regarded as being altogether supernumerary. The ladies had promised to be at the shop by half-past ten, so that Crosbie should reach his office at eleven—or a little after. But it was nearly eleven before they left the Gazebee residence, and it was very evident that half-an-hour among the carpets would be by no means sufficient. It seemed as though miles upon miles of gorgeous colouring were unrolled before them; and then ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope

... Quinault wrote the words, and he is justly considered to be the founder of French opera. Among Lulli's operas are "Armide," "Isis," "Atys," "Alceste," "Psyche," "Proserpine," and "Bellerophon." The composer did not reach old age, but died in 1687, about fifty-four years old, wealthy and honoured, and a great favourite of Louis XIV., who had made him "Superintendent of the King's Music," and treated him with much liberality. ...
— Among the Great Masters of Music - Scenes in the Lives of Famous Musicians • Walter Rowlands


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