beard Meaning, Definition & Usage

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

WordNet

Beard noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  1. The hair that grows on the chin, lips, and adjacent parts of the human face, chiefly of male adults.
  2. (Zoöl.) (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.
  3. (Bot.) Long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn; as, the beard of grain.
  4. A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument, projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily drawn out.
  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.
  6. (Print.) That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face.
  7. An imposition; a trick. Obs. Chaucer.
Beard transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Bearded; present participle & verbal noun Bearding
Definitions
  1. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt.
  2. To oppose to the gills; to set at defiance.
    No admiral, bearded by three corrupt and dissolute minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter something about a court martial. Macaulay.
  3. To deprive of the gills; -- used only of oysters and similar shellfish.

Webster 1913