Jump To:

• bach
  bach

  noun

  a bachelor.
• Bach
  Bach

  noun

  Johann Sebastian 1685–1750, German organist and composer.

bach

¹ American  

[bach] / bætʃ /

noun

1. a bachelor.

2. New Zealand. a small weekend or vacation house or shack.

---

idioms

1. bach it, to live alone or share living quarters with someone of the same gender, usually doing one's own housework, cooking, laundry, etc.

Bach ² American  

[bahkh] / bɑx /

noun

1. Johann Sebastian 1685–1750, German organist and composer.

2. his sons: Carl Philipp Emanuel 1714–88; Johann Christian 1735–82; Johann Christoph Friedrich 1732–95; and Wilhelm Friedemann 1710–84, German organists and composers.

---

Bach ¹ British  

/ bax /

noun

1. Johann Christian (joˈhan ˈkrɪstjan), 11th son of J. S. Bach. 1735–82, German composer, called the English Bach , resident in London from 1762

2. Johann Christoph (ˈkrɪstɔf). 1642–1703, German composer: wrote oratorios, cantatas, and motets, some of which were falsely attributed to J. S. Bach, of whom he was a distant relative

3. Johann Sebastian (joˈhan zeˈbastjan). 1685–1750, German composer: church organist at Arnstadt (1703–07) and Mühlhausen (1707–08); court organist at Weimar (1708–17); musical director for Prince Leopold of Köthen (1717–28); musical director for the city of Leipzig (1728–50). His output was enormous and displays great vigour and invention within the northern European polyphonic tradition. His works include nearly 200 cantatas and oratorios, settings of the Passion according to St John (1723) and St Matthew (1729), the six Brandenburg Concertos (1720–21), the 48 preludes and fugues of the Well-tempered Clavier (completed 1744), and the Mass in B Minor (1733–38)

4. Karl ( or Carl ) Philipp Emanuel (karl ˈfiːlɪp eˈmaːnuɛl), 3rd son of J. S. Bach. 1714–88, German composer, chiefly of symphonies, keyboard sonatas, and church music

5. Wilhelm Friedemann (ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfriːdəman), eldest son of J. S. Bach. 1710–84, German composer: wrote nine symphonies and much keyboard and religious music

---

bach ² British  

/ bætʃ /

verb

1. a variant spelling of batch 1

---

noun

1. a simple cottage, esp at the seaside

bach ³ British  

/ bax, bɑːk /

noun

1. a term of friendly address: used esp after a person's name

---

Etymology

Origin of bach

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; by shortening

Example Sentences

I hear the voices singing, speed your journey, bois, bois bach.

From BBC • Sep. 27, 2022

Alan Stein bach New York City When you ponder "What to Do About Israel," you miss a key point.

From Time Magazine Archive

“This above all, be true to yourself, and then you cannot be false to any man,” he cried to Laertes’ departing bach.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

Of him this was said: "'White Jesus bach is as plain on his lips as the purse of a big bull.'"

From My Neighbors Stories of the Welsh People by Evans, Caradoc

In one of these cottages the doctor found a father and mother weeping and crying out to "doctor bach, doctor bach," and two frightened children, and one little body, still and dead.

From The Terror A Mystery by Machen, Arthur