beck

1 of 3

verb

ˈbek 

becked; becking; becks

transitive verb

archaic

: beckon

beck

2 of 3

noun (1)

1

chiefly Scotland : bow, curtsy

2

a

: a beckoning gesture

b

: summons, bidding

see also:

at one's beck and call

beck

3 of 3

noun (2)

British

: creek sense 1

Synonyms of beck

Noun (2)

• brook
• creek

Examples of beck in a Sentence

Noun (2)

when we were lads, we raced our toy boats in the narrow beck that bordered the lane

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

As with the removal of the ICEBlock app from Apple’s App Store, Silicon Valley is at the beck and call of Washington, DC. —Sarah Jeong, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2026

Up until that point, Rosamond and Posy were always at her beck and call. —Kennedy French, Variety, 28 Feb. 2026

At his beck and call is The Assassin (Anthony Ramos, flexing his magnetism, particularly in a monologue about the singer Christopher Cross). —Randy Myers, Mercury News, 29 Jan. 2026

Valet is at your beck and call and switching dinner reservations or nabbing hard-to-get ones are a non-issue. —Devorah Lev-Tov, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English bekken, shortened from bekenen "to give a mute signal," with the n perhaps being taken as the infinitive ending — more at beckon

Noun (1)

Middle English becke, bekke "mute signal, signal of command, bow," noun derivative of bekken "to give a mute signal" — more at beck entry 1

Noun (2)

Middle English bek, from Old Norse bekkr; akin to Old English bæc brook, Old High German bah, Lithuanian bėgti to flee — more at phobia

First Known Use

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing beck

• at one's beck and call
• at someone's beck and call

Rhymes for beck

• breck
• check
• cheque
• czech
• deck
• fleck
• keck
• mech
• neck
• peck
• reck
• sec

Kids Definition

beck

noun

ˈbek

: a beckoning gesture