0 past simple and past participle of ebb
1 When the sea or tide ebbs, it moves away from the coast and falls to a lower level.
2 If a physical or emotional feeling ebbs, it becomes less strong or disappears:
When their cause ebbed, as it must, the crusaders resorted to ' storm ' and ' machinery ' to reclaim attention.
Membership and commitment ebbed and flowed as the levels of risk and political popularity rose and fell.
Despite the acceleration of neo-liberal policies, urban mass protests ebbed noticeably during the 1990s.
The crowd had already thinned and the throbbing excitement had considerably ebbed.
During the last few decades of the 20th century when the science of medicine reached new heights, the role and authority of physicians has ebbed.
Criticism, of course, ebbed and flowed as the correspondent sensed success or failure.
Individuals gripped in passion's vice could do little to regulate the emotion and had to wait until it ebbed.
With respect to participation, for example, we observed that the advantage of middle-class identification ebbed as members of the parental generation moved into retirement.
