reach

1 /ri:tS/ verb

1 ARRIVE (T) to arrive at a particular place, especially when it has taken a long time or a lot of effort to get there: It was a relief to reach the safety of our home at last. | Your letter reached me yesterday.

2 WITH YOUR HAND

a) (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive always + adv/prep) to move your hand or arm in order to touch, hold, or pick up something

(+ for/in/over etc): I saw Kelly reach for the gun. | reach out a hand: One of the men suddenly reached out a hand and grabbed my arm.

b) (intransitive, transitive not in progressive) to succeed in touching something by stretching out your hand or arm, especially something that is above your head: Even when I stood on tiptoe I couldn't reach the top shelf. | We picked all the fruit we could reach.

c) TAKE STH/PICK STH UP (T) to take or pick up something by stretching your arm, especially over your head: reach sth down: She reached down a can of peaches from the top shelf.

3 LEVEL/STANDARD (T) to increase, improve, or develop to a particular level or standard over a period of time: These plants take a long time to reach maturity. | wind speeds reaching over 100 mph

4 ACHIEVE AN AIM (T) to succeed in doing what you were trying to do: reach a decision/agreement/result etc: After two years of negotiations, the warring parties have finally reached a settlement.

5 LENGTH/HEIGHT (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive not in progressive) to be big enough, long enough, or high enough to get to a particular point or level: The flood waters reached the lower floor of the houses. | reach as far as/down to: Her skirt reaches down to her ankles.

6 SPEAK TO SB (T) to speak to someone or leave a message for them, especially by telephone; contact 2: Here's my phone number, in case you need to reach me.

7 BE SEEN/HEARD BY SB (T) if a message, television programme etc reaches a lot of people, they hear it or see it: The sales campaign reached a target audience of 12,000 women.

8 reach for the stars to aim for something that is very difficult to achieve

USAGE NOTE: REACH WORD CHOICE: reach, arrive, get to, achieve, catch To arrive somewhere is to come to it after travelling: Sam usually arrives home from work at 5.15. | What time does the train arrive? Reach suggests more time or effort is involved: At last we reached the base camp. In spoken English people usually use get to: You can easily get to the city centre from here. If a train, bus, plane etc arrives, you say get in: The bus gets in at four-thirty. Note that you get/arrive/reach etc home (NOT to home). You may reach a standard or level, especially through your own efforts, but achieve is often a better word: I want to reach/achieve a good level of English | He achieved his aim in life - to write a book (NOT reached). If you get to a bus, train etc just in time, you catch it: You'd better hurry if you want to catch that bus. GRAMMAR You reach a place (NOT reach at or reach to it): He reached Tokyo at 5 am. You arrive at a particular place, town, or building: We arrived at the station at midnight. | What time will they arrive at his house? You arrive in a country or a big city: arrive in London/Tokyo/France Sometimes you do not need a preposition at all: When will they arrive there/here/home? 2 noun

1 (singular, uncountable) the distance that you can stretch out your arm to touch something: a boxer with a long reach | out of reach/beyond reach: The cat jumped away, out of his reach. | within reach: Adjust the car seat so that all the controls are within reach.

2 (singular, uncountable) the limit to which someone or something can have a power or influence: beyond the reach of: He lives in Paraguay, beyond the reach of the British authorities.

3 within(easy) reach of within a distance that you can easily travel: All the main tourist attractions are within easy reach of the hotel.

4 (C) a straight part of a river between two bends