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• bach
  bach

  noun

  a bachelor.
• Bach
  Bach

  noun

  Johann Sebastian 1685–1750, German organist and composer.

bach

¹ American  

[bach] / bætʃ /

noun

• baches
  plural

1. a bachelor.

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

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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.

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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

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bach ² British  

/ bætʃ /

verb

1. a variant spelling of batch 1

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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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• baches
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bach

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; by shortening

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bach Bach baches

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

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 Arthur Machen

The proprietor led me upstairs to a room that I could have free with an oil stove and table where I could cook—so I made arrangements to "bach".

From The Conquest The Story of a Negro Pioneer by Oscar Micheaux

As the play opens Bach is anguished by the illness of one of his many children—he sired 20, although only half made it to adulthood—and alarmed by his failing eyesight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

“Conflict in Tigray has a strong potential to spread regionally,” said Edward Bach, senior Africa analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a U.K.-based risk intelligence firm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Many people think they don’t need flood insurance if they don’t live near a river, lake or ocean, said attorney Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a San Francisco consumer group.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Recently, many insurance companies have reduced water-damage coverage and added caps on insurance payouts for water-related repairs, according to Bach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

The Sex Pistols’ songs are no more discordant than, say, ‘Lovely yet ungrateful swain’, a Vauxhall Gardens song of Johann Christian Bach.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Popular in Whangaroa Harbour and other locations away from cities and main tourist areas are cottages known as "baches."

From US News ● Nov. 10, 2015

She developed a sturdy self-reliance that was surprising in one so young, and long before spring came was indispensable to the two "old baches."

From A Little Norsk; Or, Ol' Pap's Flaxen by Hamlin Garland

They say he baches it there, cookin' his meals on a one-burner oil stove, never reportin'170 sick, never takin' a vacation, and never gettin' above Thirty-third Street or below Fourteenth.

From Torchy and Vee by Sewell Ford

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