birch
noun
[ bəːtʃ ]
• a slender hardy tree which has thin peeling bark and bears catkins. Birch trees grow chiefly in northern temperate regions and yield hard, pale, fine-grained timber.
• a formal punishment in which a person is flogged with a bundle of birch twigs.
• "there were calls to bring back the birch"
birch
verb
• beat (someone) with a bundle of birch twigs as a formal punishment.
• "the school would attempt to birch them into submission"
Origin:
Old English bierce, birce, of Germanic origin; related to German Birke .
