Beard

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Beard \Beard\ (b[=e]rd), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Bearded}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Bearding}.]
     1. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard
        of (a man), in anger or contempt.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. To oppose to the face; to set at defiance.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              No admiral, bearded by these corrupt and dissolute
              minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter
              something about a court martial.      --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To deprive of the gills; -- used only of oysters and
        similar shellfish.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Beard \Beard\ (b[=e]rd), n. [OE. berd, AS. beard; akin to Fries.
     berd, D. baard, G. bart, Lith. barzda, OSlav. brada, Pol.
     broda, Russ. boroda, L. barba, W. barf. Cf. 1st {Barb}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The hair that grows on the chin, lips, and adjacent parts
        of the human face, chiefly of male adults.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.)
        (a) The long hairs about the face in animals, as in the
            goat.
        (b) The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak
            in some birds
        (c) The appendages to the jaw in some Cetacea, and to the
            mouth or jaws of some fishes.
        (d) The byssus of certain shellfish, as the muscle.
        (e) The gills of some bivalves, as the oyster.
        (f) In insects, the hairs of the labial palpi of moths and
            butterflies.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Bot.) Long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn; as, the
        beard of grain.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument,
        projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily
        drawn out.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. That part of the under side of a horse's lower jaw which
        is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Print.) That part of a type which is between the shoulder
        of the shank and the face.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. An imposition; a trick. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Beard grass} (Bot.), a coarse, perennial grass of different
        species of the genus {Andropogon}.
  
     {To one's beard}, to one's face; in open defiance.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  beard
       n 1: the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face [syn: {face
            fungus}, {whiskers}]
       2: a tuft or growth of hairs or bristles on certain plants such
          as iris or grasses
       3: a person who diverts suspicion from someone (especially a
          woman who accompanies a male homosexual in order to
          conceal his homosexuality)
       4: hairy growth on or near the face of certain mammals
       5: tuft of strong filaments by which e.g. a mussel makes itself
          fast to a fixed surface [syn: {byssus}]
       v : go along the rim, like a beard around the chin; "Houses
           bearded the top of the heights"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  138 Moby Thesaurus words for "beard":
     Vandyke, affront, ascender, back, bag, ballocks, balls, basket,
     bastard type, beaver, bell the cat, belly, bevel, bid defiance,
     bite the bullet, black letter, body, brave, brazen, brazen out,
     breasts, bristles, call out, cap, capital, case, cervix, challenge,
     clitoris, cod, cods, confront, counter, cullions, dare, defy,
     descender, double-dare, down, em, en, face, face out,
     face the music, face up, face up to, family jewels, fat-faced type,
     feet, female organs, font, front, genitalia, genitals, goatee,
     gonads, groove, imperial, italic, labia, labia majora,
     labia minora, letter, ligature, lingam, lips, logotype, lower case,
     majuscule, male organs, meat, meet, meet boldly, meet head-on,
     minuscule, nick, nuts, nymphae, outdare, outface, ovary,
     peach fuzz, penis, phallus, pi, pica, point, print, private parts,
     privates, privy parts, pubic hair, pudenda, reproductive organs,
     rocks, roman, run the gauntlet, sans serif, scream defiance,
     script, scrotum, secondary sex characteristic, set at defiance,
     sex organs, shank, shoulder, show fight, side whiskers, small cap,
     small capital, speak out, speak up, spermary, stamp, stand up to,
     stare down, stem, stubble, testes, testicles, tuft, type,
     type body, type class, type lice, typecase, typeface, typefounders,
     typefoundry, upper case, uterus, vagina, venture, vulva, whisker,
     whiskers, womb, yoni
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Beard
     The mode of wearing it was definitely prescribed to the Jews
     (Lev. 19:27; 21:5). Hence the import of Ezekiel's (5:1-4)
     description of the "razor" i.e., the agents of an angry
     providence being used against the guilty nation of the Jews. It
     was a part of a Jew's daily toilet to anoint his beard with oil
     and perfume (Ps. 133:2). Beards were trimmed with the most
     fastidious care (2 Sam. 19:24), and their neglet was an
     indication of deep sorrow (Isa. 15:2; Jer. 41:5). The custom was
     to shave or pluck off the hair as a sign of mourning (Isa. 50:6;
     Jer. 48:37; Ezra 9:3). The beards of David's ambassadors were
     cut off by hanun (2 Sam. 10:4) as a mark of indignity.
     
       On the other hand, the Egyptians carefully shaved the hair off
     their faces, and they compelled their slaves to do so also (Gen.
     41:14).
     

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  BEARD, n.  The hair that is commonly cut off by those who justly
  execrate the absurd Chinese custom of shaving the head.