Definition of "reach"

reach¹

/ɹiːt͡ʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present reaches, present participle reaching, simple past and past participle reached or (obsolete) raught
1. (intransitive) To extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand).
2. (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.
3. (intransitive) To stretch out the hand.
4. (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.
5. (transitive, of a missile) To strike or touch.
6. (transitive, by extension) To extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut.
  Quotations
  A few words, lovingly, encouragingly spoken failed to reach her heart.
  1889, The Kindergarten-Primary Magazine, volume 1, page 119
  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.
  1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
7. (transitive) To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent.
  Quotations
  Thy desire […] leads to no excess / That reaches blame.
  1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
  Audio (US)(file)
  2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎, archived from the original on 7 February 2019:Patent filings for neural networks grew at a rate of 46 percent from 2013 to 2016, reaching 6,506, the study found.
8. (transitive) To arrive at (a place) by effort of any kind.
  Quotations
  I am very Senſible, the beſt accounts of the Appearances of Nature (in any ſingle Inſtance hovv minute or ſimple ſoever) 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.
  1715, George Cheyne, “The Preface”, in Philosophical Principles of Religion: Natural and Revealed: […] Philosophical Principles of Natural Religion. Part I. […], 2nd edition, London: […] George Strahan […]
  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.
  1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
9. (transitive, figurative) To make contact with.
10. (transitive, figurative) To connect with (someone) on an emotional level, making them receptive of (one); to get through to (someone).
11. (intransitive, India, Singapore) To arrive at a particular destination.
  Quotations
  The particulars that reach from Eastern Bengal require corroboration.
  1907, George Clifford Whitworth, Indian English: An Examination of the Errors of Idiom made by Indians in Writing English, page 122
  I reached at the right time.
  1958, India. Ministry of Education, A Basic Grammar of Modern Hindi: English Version, page 33
  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.
  1960, Gene Donald Overstreet, Marshall Windmiller, Communism in India, page 144
  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.
  1975, India. Parliament. Public Accounts Committee, Epitome of the Reports of the Central Committee of Public Accounts from 1967-68 to 1970-71 (Fourth Lok Sabha) and of the Government Orders Thereon, page 144
  I suggest taking an earlier bus (say 6:00 p.m.), reaching at around midnight, then taking a taxi (might even be able to catch the last MRT) to Changi.
  2004 February 18, Mr. Free Notes, “Getting bus from KL to Singapore leaving night, likely to be any delays in arrival?”, in soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet)
  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.
  2009, Boria Majumdar, Nalin Mehta, India and the Olympics, page 218
  Once we reached, we parked our cars beneath the trees and started trekking up the hill after a brief round of introductions.
  2012 April 26, Rakesh Chandrasekar, “Post Trek Mail II - Freshers Trek April 22nd Nagala West”, in The Chennai Trekking Club‎ (Usenet)
12. (transitive) To continue living until or up to (a certain age).
13. (obsolete) To understand; to comprehend.
  Quotations
  Do what, sir? I reach you not.
  1612 January 5 (first performance, Gregorian calendar; published 1619), Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “A King, and No King”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, Act IV, scene ii
14. To strain after something; to make (sometimes futile or pretentious) efforts.
  Quotations
  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.
  2015, Janet S. Steinwedel, The Golden Key to Executive Coaching
15. (intransitive) To extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously (past, beyond, above, from etc. something).
  Quotations
  The Thembu tribe reaches back for twenty generations to King Zwide.
  1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus, published 2010, page 4
16. (nautical) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
17. (slang, MTE, MLE) To arrive at a particular destination, especially to join someone; to meet up.
  Quotations
  If you're calling out at your homies to come over and hang out, you just simply say "reach."
  2017 September 21, Kristina Ramcharran, “25 Toronto Slang Words You've Definitely Heard At Least Once”, in Narcity‎
noun
plural reaches
1. The act of stretching or extending; extension.
2. The ability to reach or touch with the person, a limb, or something held or thrown.
  Quotations
  […] 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.
  1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927,
3. The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity.
  Quotations
  Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended.
  a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630
  Be sure yourself and your own reach to know.
  1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W. Lewis […], published 1711
4. Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope.
  Quotations
  And on the left hand, hell, / With long reach, interposed.
  1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
  I am to pray you not to strain my speech / To grosser issues, nor to larger reach / Than to suspicion.
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii]
  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 (for the mathematically inclined, it is an exponential function).
  1999, Evan J. Mandery, The Campaign: Rudy Giuliani, Ruth Messenger, Al Sharpton, and the Race to be Mayor of New York City
5. (informal) An exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch.
6. (boxing) The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.
7. (nautical) Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.
8. (nautical) The distance traversed between tacks.
9. (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.
  Quotations
  the gulfe Iasius, and all the coast thereof is very full of creekes and reaches.
  1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635
  The river's wooded reach.
  1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], (please specify |part=prologue or epilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX)
  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.
  1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], part II, page 483
  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].
  December 2011, Dan Houston, Sailing a classic yacht on the Thames, Classic Boat Magazine
10. A level stretch of a watercourse, as between rapids in a river or locks in a canal. (examples?)
11. An extended portion or area of land or water.
  Quotations
  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.
  1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, page 134
  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
  2002, Russell Allen, "Incantations of the Apprentice", on Symphony X, The Odyssey.
12. (obsolete) An article to obtain an advantage.
  Quotations
  The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own, under hand, to cross the design.
  a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629
13. The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.

reach²

/ɹiːt͡ʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present reaches, present participle reaching, simple past and past participle reached
1. (obsolete or dialect) Alternative form of retch.
noun
plural reaches
1. (obsolete or dialect) Alternative form of retch.

Definition of "reach"

reach1

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

reach2

verb

noun

reach¹

reach²