Word.ws English Dictionary

perch

UK/pɜːtʃ//pɝt͡ʃ/

perch noun: any of the three species of spiny-finned freshwater fish in the genus Perca.

perch: any of the three species of spiny-finned freshwater fish in the genus Perca
Image: Originally uploaded to English Wikipedia by en:Hadal, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

perch (plural perches or perch)

  1. Any of the three species of spiny-finned freshwater fish in the genus Perca.
  2. (South Africa) Acanthopagrus berda
  3. (Ghana) Distichodus engycephalus, Distichodus rostratus
  4. (Australia) Johnius belangerii, Macquaria ambigua, Macquaria colonorum, Macquaria novemaculeata, Nemadactylus macropterus
  5. (US) Kyphosus azureus
  6. (UK) Lateolabrax japonicus, Tautogolabrus adspersus
  7. Several similar species in the order Perciformes, such as the grouper.

Noun (2)

perch (plural perches or perch)

  1. A rod, staff, tree branch, ledge, etc., used as a roost by a bird.
    • We know him now: […] / Not making his high place the lawless perch / Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage-ground / For pleasure; […]1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Dedication”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; V), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 8
  2. A pole connecting the fore gear and hind gear of a spring carriage; a reach.
  3. (figuratively) A position that is secure and advantageous, especially one which is prominent or elevated.
    • Last year, Eighth Grade found poignancy and humor in its eponymous time period: that purgatorial perch between childhood and adulthood.2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2021
    • [W]inning Wimbledon at just 19 years, earning her rightful place on the perch as world number one.2022 August 1, Off the Leash, Darwin, NT, page 12, column 1
  4. (figuratively) A position that is overly elevated or haughty.
    • You may thanke me, (Lady) / I haue taken you off your mellancholly pearch, / Boare you vpon my fiſt, and ſhew'd you game, / And let you flie at it: I pray the kiſſe me, […]1612–1613 (date written), John Webster, The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy. […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1623, →OCLC, Act II, scene iv
  5. (dated) A linear measure of 5+¹⁄₂ yards, equal to a rod, a pole or ¹⁄₄ chain; the related square measure.
    • The whole surface of the country is divided into irregular patches, following the undulations of the ground, from many acres to a few perches in extent, each of which is itself perfectly level, but stands a few inches or several feet above or below those adjacent to it.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 236
  6. A cubic measure of stonework equal to 16.6 × 1.5 × 1 feet.
  7. A frame used to examine cloth.
  8. A bar used to support a candle, especially in a church.
  9. A platform for lights to be directed at the stage.

Verb

perch (third-person singular simple present perches, present participle perching, simple past and past participle perched)

  1. (intransitive) To rest on a perch (especially, of a bird); to roost.
    • The macaw perched on Jim's shoulder.
  2. (intransitive) To sit upon the edge of something.
    • The platform was already crowded, but the newcomers threaded their way to the front amid a decorous murmur of welcome. Mr. Peeble shoved and exhorted and two end seats emerged upon which Enid and Malone perched themselves.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
  3. (intransitive) To stay in an elevated position.
  4. (transitive) To place something on (or as if on) a perch.
    • The most obvious beneficiary of the visitors' superiority was Frank Lampard. By the end of the night he was perched 13th in the list of England's most prolific goalscorers, having leapfrogged Sir Geoff Hurst to score his 24th and 25th international goals. No other player has managed more than the...2012 September 7, Dominic Fifield, “England start World Cup campaign with five-goal romp against Moldova”, in The Guardian
  5. (intransitive, transitive) To inspect cloth using a perch.

Proper noun capitalized: Perch

Perch

  1. A surname.
  2. a type of freshwater fish

perch meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

perch in Hindi

पर्च

perch in Tamil

தாங்கி, பேர்ச், உயர்த்திக் கட்டிய கொம்பு, பரண், பறவை நிற்பதற்கான இடவசதி

perch in Marathi

पर्च, पर्च करण्यासाठी

perch in Urdu

Perch
پرچ parč
More languagesFewer languages
perch in Bengali
পাখির বসার দণ্ড, উঁচু বসার জায়গা
perch in Telugu
పెర్చ్, పర్చ్, పెర్చ్ చెయ్యడానికి
perch in Malayalam
പെർച്ച് എന്ന മത്സ്യം, ഉന്നതസ്ഥാനം, പക്ഷികളിരിക്കുന്ന കൊമ്പ്, ചേക്കേറുക
perch in Kannada
ತೆಂಗು
perch in Punjabi
ਪਰਚ, ਪਰ੍ਚ
perch in Gujarati
પર્ચ, પેર્ચ, પર્ચ કરવા માટે
perch in Odia
ପର୍ଚ୍, ପର୍ଚ
perch in Nepali
पर्च, पेर्च, पर्च गर्न
perch in Indonesian
hinggap

Examples of perch in a sentence

  • Perched on the edge of the cliff was a hidden outlook.
  • The monastery perched on an exposed cliff.
  • The isabelline (or Daurian) shrike is a greyish-yellow and hunts from prominent perches, impaling the corpses on thorns as a larder.

All 40 example sentences with perch

Forms of perch

Noun
pluralperches
pluralperch
Verb
third-person singular presentperches
present participleperching
past participleperched
pastperched

Past tense of perch: perched

Plural of perch: perches or perch

Origin of perch

From Middle English perche, from Old French perche, from Latin perca, from Ancient Greek πέρκη (pérkē, “perch”), cognate with περκνός (perknós, “dark-spotted”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ-, whence also Old English forn (“trout”), German Forelle (“trout”).

From Middle English perche, from Old French perche, from Latin pertica (“staff, long pole, measuring rod”).

Words formed from perch

Phrases with perch

Words that rhyme with perch

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about perch

What does perch mean?
Perch means any of the three species of spiny-finned freshwater fish in the genus Perca.
What is perch in Hindi?
Perch in Hindi is पर्च. See Perch meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is perch?
Perch can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce perch?
Perch is pronounced /pɜːtʃ/ (UK).
What is the plural of perch?
The plural of perch is perches.

Words near perch in the dictionary

  1. perceptualness
  2. perceptum
  3. perceptuomotor
  4. percesocine
  5. Perceval
  6. perch
  7. perch plate
  8. perch plates
  9. perch pole
  10. perch poles
  11. perch stay

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: perch (page history and authors); Perch (page history and authors); perch (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perch (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perch (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); پرچ (Urdu) (page history and authors); Perch (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perch (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perch (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perch (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perch (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perch (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perch (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perch (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-perch.ogg.

Cite this entry: “perch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/perch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.