The receding movement of the tide.
"As the sun rose, the water began to ebb from the shoreline, revealing smooth stones that had been hidden beneath the waves."
hem in fish with stakes and nets so as to prevent them from going back into the sea with the ebb
"The fishermen drove their wooden stakes into the sand to trap the cod before they could escape with the incoming tide."
to flow back or recede
"The tide began to ebb as the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving wet footprints in the sand."
low, shallow
"The ebb tide left a wide stretch of wet sand exposed on the shoreline."
The word "ebb" comes from Old English and originally meant the tide going out. It is related to other Germanic words for this phenomenon and ultimately traces back to a root meaning "off" or "away."