Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BECK, n.

A small brook. Gray. This word, Sax. becc, Ger. bach, D. beek, Dan. bæk, Sw. back, Pers. بَخْ bak, a brook or rivulet, is found in the Ir. Ar. Ch. Syr. Sam. Heb. and Eth., in the sense of flowing, as tears, weeping. Gen. xxxii. 22. It is obsolete in English, but is found in the names of towns situated near streams, as in Walbeck; but is more frequent in names on the Continent, as in Griesbach, &c.