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 bevel neck. 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

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.

Other Word Forms

• bearded adjective
• beardlike adjective
• unbeard 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

Example Sentences

Therrien is famous for his large-scale sculptures — towering stacks of vertigo-inducing dishes, giant beards, enormous folding chairs and oversized pots and pans in humongous cupboards — but each piece is a “trap door,” says Schad.

From Los Angeles Times

Members wore pins with a photo of Cash Vandervort, a popular volunteer with a white beard and bright blue eyes who died earlier this year at 86.

From Los Angeles Times

Alcaraz told befuddled reporters after the match that he “had to do something” about his hair and beard, so he flew in his personal barber.

From Los Angeles Times

The film sees the usually well-groomed Irishman transform into a bearded Ron, the gregarious one-time trade union leader turned unlikely amateur sleuth, in a new Netflix movie based on the first book in the series.

From BBC

Practising Sikh men often make their faith visible by wearing the turban and growing out their beards.

From BBC