perched

[ purcht ]

adjective

1. (of a bird) resting on a perch, such as a branch, telephone wire, or fence, or a rod specially designed for the purpose:

   While hiking I caught sight of a perched owl near the trail.

2. settled or resting in a relatively high position, like a bird on a perch:

   The tour will stop for lunch in a perched village offering a splendid view of the entire French Riviera coastline.

3. Geology. (of a boulder or block) left on the top of a hill, ridge, etc., by ice that melted after carrying it there:

   As you continue hiking southeast, look out for the perched boulder overlooking a pond.

4. Geology.
   1. (of a lake) having a surface level at an unusually high elevation, well above that of aquifers and other bodies of water in the area, because it has formed on a dense, hardened layer of sand mixed with organic matter that traps water on top of it:

      Half of all the world’s known perched lakes are found on Australia’s Fraser Island.

   2. (of an aquifer) occurring above the regional water table, having been formed by an accumulation of groundwater that cannot permeate the underlying layer of clay or other dense soil:

      Perched aquifers are sometimes good water sources, but they tend to be relatively small and easily depleted with overpumping.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of perch ¹.

Other Words From

• un·perched adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of perched¹

First recorded in 1815–25; perch ¹( def ) + -ed ²( def ) for the adjective senses; perch ¹( def ) + -ed ¹( def ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

From its perch in the mountains of Puerto Rico, the observatory has served for decades as the vanguard of the search for alien civilizations and guarded the planet against killer asteroids.

From Singularity Hub 

For Tennessee, the loss to the Bengals was their second in a row after being knocked from their perch among the unbeatens by Pittsburgh.

From Washington Post

One works while the other calls from a nearby perch, maybe cheering its mate on, maybe offering “helpful” suggestions.

From Popular-Science

Sometimes when he spies her on a perch, he flies over and without his even offering a fish, they mate.

From Popular-Science

If a female alights on a perch in a male’s territory and he’s interested, he’ll fly over with a fish.

From Popular-Science

Aberdeen, perched on the North Sea, offers a perfect example of the schism between the top and bottom earners.

From The Daily Beast

They were perched atop our five-boat flotilla and I cried like a baby.

From The Daily Beast

Intrepid university students perched on the ceiling girders and roared out a football cheer: Cheer!

From The Daily Beast

Our lovely hotel perched on top a steep hill overlooking the mountains was also packed to the gills.

From The Daily Beast

The higher of the two is perched 27 meters above the lake's surface –– about the same height as an eight-story building.

From The Daily Beast

A flash of surprise and pleasure lit the fine eyes of the haughty beauty perched up there on the palace wall.

From Project Gutenberg

A most comical sight was the cook, perched on top of his load of pans, pots, and potatoes.

From Project Gutenberg

As on the preceding day, the cook rode perched upon his pony's load of kettles, pans, and pots.

From Project Gutenberg

Every morning an old jackdaw perched on a chimney outside our skylight, and entertained us with his chatter.

From Project Gutenberg

Mrs. Gum dusted a large old-fashioned oak chair with her apron; but he perched himself on one of its elbows.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• alight
• squat
• touch down