Perches

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. To settle briefly on a high point or ledge; to securely position an item on a surface; a temporary elevated seat or platform designed for short use
2. To sit or rest on a raised spot usually for a short time ; to put an object on a higher surface ; a small raised seat or platform usually for brief use
3. To settle oneself briefly on a high place ; to set or arrange something on a raised area ; a modest elevation used as a perch for sitting or standing

Etymology: Before "perch" meant a place to sit, it named a fish. The Greek "pérkē" was a word for the perch fish, and it was borrowed into Latin as "perca," which passed into Old French as "perche" and then into Middle English. The fish sense is the one the word's Greek ancestor carried, and it is linked to the Greek adjective "perknós," meaning "dark-spotted," a nod to the fish's markings. The seating sense comes from a different Latin source. The same Old French "perche" also descends from Latin "pertica," meaning a staff, long pole, or measuring rod. A pole set across a support makes a natural roost for birds, which is how the word came to describe a bird resting on a branch, and then a person or thing resting on any raised place. "Perches" is simply the plural of this noun and the third-person singular of the verb, so it is the same word in both its senses: the plural of the fish and the pole, and the verb form of resting on a raised spot.

Synonyms: rests, sits, alights, settles, roosts

Antonyms: falls, descends, drops, plummets, lands awkwardly