beard

¹

[ beerd ]

noun

1. a thick growth of hair on the face, especially on an adult man, often including a mustache:

   He's been growing out his beard for a couple of months, and it's filling in nicely.

2. Zoology. a tuft, growth, or part resembling or suggesting the thick growth of hair on the human face, such as the tuft of long hairs on the lower jaw of a goat or the cluster of hairlike feathers at the base of the bill in certain birds.
3. Botany. a tuft or growth of awns or the like, as on wheat or barley.
4. a barb or catch on an arrow, fishhook, knitting needle, crochet needle, etc.
5. Also called bev·el neck [bev, -, uh, l nek]. Printing.
   1. the sloping part of a type that connects the face with the shoulder of the body.
   2. British. the space on a type between the bottom of the face of an x-high character and the edge of the body, comprising both beard and shoulder.
   3. the cross stroke on the stem of a capital G.
6. Slang. a romantic partner chosen to conceal a person's sexual orientation, especially that of a gay or lesbian person.

verb (used with object)

1. to oppose boldly; defy:

   It took courage for the mayor to beard the pressure groups.

   Synonyms: face, dare, brave, confront

   Antonyms: dodge, avoid

2. to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of:

   The hoodlums bearded the old man.

3. to supply with a beard.

verb (used without object)

1. Slang. to act as a romantic partner to someone in order to conceal their sexual orientation, especially that of a gay or lesbian person.

Beard

²

[ beerd ]

noun

1. Charles Austin, 1874–1948, and his wife Mary, 1876–1958, U.S. historians.
2. Daniel Carter, 1850–1941, U.S. artist and naturalist: organized the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.
3. James Andrew, 1903–85, U.S. cooking teacher and food writer.

beard

/ bɪəd /

noun

1. the hair growing on the lower parts of a man's face
2. any similar growth in animals
3. a tuft of long hairs in plants such as barley and wheat; awn
4. the gills of an oyster
5. a barb, as on an arrow or fish-hook
6. slang.
   a woman who accompanies a homosexual man to give the impression that he is heterosexual
7. printing the part of a piece of type that connects the face with the shoulder

verb

1. to oppose boldly or impertinently
2. to pull or grasp the beard of

beard

/ bîrd /

1. A tuft or group of hairs or bristles on certain plants, such as barley and wheat. The individual strands of a beard are attached to a sepal or petal.

Derived Forms

• ˈbearded, adjective

Other Words From

• beard·like adjective
• un·beard verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of beard¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English berd, Old English beard; cognate with Dutch baard, German Bart, Late Latin Langobardi “Long-beards (name of the Lombards),” Crimean Gothic bars; akin to Latin barba, Lithuanian barzdà, Old Church Slavonic brada, Russian borodá

Word History and Origins

Origin of beard¹

Old English beard ; related to Old Norse barth , Old High German bart , Latin barba