What is the meaning of birch?

noun

• Hard close-grained wood of any of various birch trees; used especially in furniture and interior finishes and plywood.
• Any betulaceous tree or shrub of the genus Betula having a thin peeling bark.
  • synonyms: birch tree
• A switch consisting of a twig or a bundle of twigs from a birch tree; used to hit people as punishment.
  • usage: "my father never spared the birch"
  • synonyms: birch rod

verb

• Whip with a birch twig.

adjective

• Consisting of or made of wood of the birch tree.
  • synonyms: birchen, birken