perch

¹ American  

[purch] / pɜrtʃ /

noun

1. a pole or rod, usually horizontal, serving as a roost for birds.

2. any place or object, as a sill, fence, branch, or twig, for a bird, animal, or person to alight or rest upon.

3. a high or elevated position, resting place, or the like.

4. a small, elevated seat for the driver of any of certain vehicles.

5. a pole connecting the fore and hind running parts of a spring carriage or other vehicle.

6. a post set up as a navigational aid on a navigational hazard or on a buoy.

7. British.

   1. a linear or square rod.

   2. a measure of volume for stone, about 24 cubic feet (0.7 cubic meters).

8. Textiles. an apparatus consisting of two vertical posts and a horizontal roller, used for inspecting cloth after it leaves the loom.

9. Obsolete. any pole, rod, or the like.

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verb (used without object)

• perches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• perched,
  past participle,  past
• perching
  present participle

1. to alight or rest upon a perch.

2. to settle or rest in some elevated position, as if on a perch.

verb (used with object)

• perches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• perched,
  past participle,  past
• perching
  present participle

1. to set or place on or as if on a perch.

2. to inspect (cloth) for defects and blemishes after it has been taken from the loom and placed upon a perch.

perch ² American  

[purch] / pɜrtʃ /

noun

• perch,
  plural
• perches
  plural

1. any spiny-finned, freshwater food fish of the genus Perca, as P. flavescens yellow perch, of the U.S., or P. fluviatilis, of Europe.

2. any of various other related, spiny-finned fishes.

3. any of several embioticid fishes, as Hysterocarpus traski tule perch of California.

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perch ¹ British  

/ pɜːtʃ /

noun

1. a pole, branch, or other resting place above ground on which a bird roosts or alights

2. a similar resting place for a person or thing

3. another name for rod

4. a solid measure for stone, usually taken as 198 inches by 18 inches by 12 inches

5. a pole joining the front and rear axles of a carriage

6. a frame on which cloth is placed for inspection

7. obsolete a pole

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verb

1. (usually foll by on) to alight, rest, or cause to rest on or as if on a perch

   the bird perched on the branch

   the cap was perched on his head

2. (tr) to inspect (cloth) on a perch

perch ² British  

/ pɜːtʃ /

noun

1. any freshwater spiny-finned teleost fish of the family Percidae, esp those of the genus Perca, such as P. fluviatilis of Europe and P. flavescens ( yellow perch ) of North America: valued as food and game fishes

2. any of various similar or related fishes

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• percher
  noun
• perchable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• perch
  plural
• perches
  plural

Participles

• perching
  present
• perched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• perch
  simple
• perches
  simple
• have perched
  perfect
• has perched
  perfect
• am perching
  progressive
• are perching
  progressive
• is perching
  progressive
• have been perching
  perfect progressive
• has been perching
  perfect progressive

Past

• perched
  simple
• had perched
  perfect
• was perching
  progressive
• were perching
  progressive
• had been perching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will perch
  simple
• will have perched
  perfect
• will be perching
  progressive
• will have been perching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of perch¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English perche, perdge, preche, from Old French, from Latin pertica “pole, staff, measuring rod”

Origin of perch²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English perche, from Middle French, from Latin perca, from Greek pérkē, feminine of adjective pérkos “having dark spots, spotted, speckled”

Explanation

A perch is a temporary resting place. In the middle of climbing a tree, you might find a good perch on a high branch. Bet some birds will be perching there too. Perch has many different meanings. A bird perch is a little stick it can balance on, and the armrest of the couch can offer you a perch during a party. It's also the name of a kind of fish with spiny fins. And it's also an old measurement of 16.5 feet.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perch perches perched perching

From his perch in the Coliseum press box, Arbogast is painting the scene of the play when Moore was injured.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

In 2021, the star staked out an East Coast perch, picking up a Brooklyn waterfront condo in the stunning Quay building, the New York Post reported.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

It operates out of a perch in Midtown Manhattan with sweeping views of Central Park.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

That market surge catapulted the California-based company into becoming the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, a perch it still holds ahead of iPhone-maker Apple.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

From the perch above, the coachman wouldn’t be able to see us through the cab’s solid ceiling.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

On Centre Court he perches on the public seats on the lookout for any movement.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

Pistachio cold foam now perches atop iced coffees from nationwide chains, Dubai chocolate knock-offs sit at every grocery checkout stand and boutique patisseries fill croissants with pistachio butters and creams.

From Salon ● May 6, 2026

The office used to be one of the few perches prominent enough to attract national attention.

From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026

Once inside, the bird perches on a carved head of Pallas before engaging the man in a strange conversation in which it repeats a single dread word.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025

I sit up on the edge of the bed as she perches next to me.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

Mariam’s family gets confused, however, and parks right in front of the building upon which the Marines are perched.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

And if you detour to the second-floor library, you’ll get the best view of a banana-yellow starfighter from “The Phantom Menace” that dangles over the lobby with R2-D2 perched in the tandem seat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Parkinson photographed a black vulture perched over a dead yacaré caiman in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands, keeping his boat at a distance and using a long telephoto lens to capture the shot.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

In the seaside resort of Palma de Majorca in the Balearic Islands, tourists, many in swimsuits, some standing in the water, watched the eclipse closely, protective glasses perched on noses.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

I was perched on the foot of my bed, waiting while my system powered up.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

Resident Maximillian Bolling told KGO-TV he witnessed several birds die after perching on power lines and a resident’s doorbell camera captured footage of a bird falling after the sound of a loud pop.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025

“Atlanta” built a Lynchian house for its “Teddy Perkins” episode, perching a namesake character buried under prosthetics within its dim innards.

From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2025

The series began with a goat "perching" on a building in Kew, followed by two elephants reaching their trunks towards each other in Chelsea.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2024

They also discovered that the feet are acutely sensitive to touch and this touch had a large representation in the brain, presumably to help with perching.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024

In fact, everything up to this point was preamble—the flight from the citadel, the squeezing down chimneys and perching on brows.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• alight
• squat
• touch down