perch

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
perch1

▶noun

• 1 a thing on which a bird alights or roosts.

• 2 a high or narrow seat or resting place.

▶verb

• 1 alight, sit, or rest on a perch.

• 2 (be perched) (of a building) be situated above or on the edge of something.

• 3 (perch someone/thing on) set or balance someone or something on.

– derivatives
percher noun.

– origin ME: the noun from perch3; the verb from OFr. percher.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
perch2

▶noun (pl. same or perches) a freshwater fish with a high spiny dorsal fin, dark vertical bars on the body, and orange lower fins. [Perca fluviatilis (Europe), P. flavescens (yellow perch, N. America), and other species.]

■ used in names of similar or related fishes, e.g. climbing perch.

– origin ME: from OFr. perche, via L. from Gk perkē.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
perch3

▶noun historical

• 1 a measure of length equal to a quarter of a chain or 5 1/2 yards (approximately 5.029 m).

• 2 (also square perch) a measure of area equal to 160th of an acre or 30 1/4 square yards (approximately 25.29 sq. metres).

– origin ME (in the sense ‘pole, stick’): from OFr. perche, from L. pertica ‘measuring rod, pole’.