/bɪəd/, [bɪːd], /bɪɹd/
OriginOriginally a nickname for someone with a beard.
- Facial hair on the chin, cheeks, jaw and neck.
- The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds.
“At this moment the cock began to play; he stuck out his beard, trailed his wings down by his legs, and made, with great solemnity and wavelike motions of his neck, a few steps forward on the branch, w”
- The appendages to the jaw in some cetaceans, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes.
- The byssus of certain shellfish.
- The gills of some bivalves, such as the oyster.
- The hairs of the labial palpi of moths and butterflies.
- The long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn.
- Long, hairlike feathers that protrude from the chest of a turkey.
“While all toms—adult male turkeys—have beards, nearly 10 percent of hens also have one, albeit a much stubbier, wispier version.”
- A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument, projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily drawn out.
- The curved underside of an axehead, extending from the lower end of the cutting edge to the axehandle.
- That part of the underside of a horse's lower jaw which is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle.
- datedThat part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face.
- slangA fake customer or companion; an intermediary.
“To get his way, Roberts employed a bit of developer's cunning: rather than approach Galardi directly, he sent a friend, Alan Meyers, as a “beard”.”
- slangOne who helps to conceal infidelity in a monogamous relationship by acting as a cover.
“What are you talking about, I should be the beard? I don't wanna be a beard.”
- slangA woman who accompanies a gay man, or a man who accompanies a lesbian, in order to give the impression that the person being accompanied is heterosexual.
“One could also speculate that Linda also served as Cole's shield (or "beard") against his possibly being disinherited by his disapproving (of sissies) millionaire grandfather and doting mom, both of w”
“Charlotte: Smith is not gay.
Miranda: Of course not.
Charlotte: So this makes you his beard.”
“In an interview with Net a Porter, Delevingne said that “one of the first things Harvey Weinstein ever said to me was, ‘You will never make it in this industry as a gay woman – get a beard.’””
- intransitive, obsoleteTo grow hair on the chin and jaw.
- transitiveTo boldly and bravely oppose or confront, often to the chagrin of the one being bearded.
“Robin Hood is always shown as bearding the Sheriff of Nottingham.”
“Am I to be bearded in my own castle by an insolent monk?”
“No admiral, bearded by these corrupt and dissolute minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter something about a court martial.”
- transitiveTo take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt.
- transitiveTo deprive (an oyster or similar shellfish) of the gills.
- intransitiveOf bees, to accumulate together in a beard-like shape.
- ambitransitive, slangOf a gay man or woman: to accompany a gay person of the opposite sex in order to give the impression that they are heterosexual.
“Lesbians and homosexual men bearding one another (i.e. providing each other with the public appearance of being heterosexual); […]”
“Things got weird after I married Jiro. It's like everyone knows I'm a lesbian who is bearding for her gay best friend so we can be rich one day, but they don't want to be reminded of it.”
- A surname transferred from the nickname.
- An unincorporated community in Warren Township, Clinton County, Indiana, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States, named after Josiah Beard.
- A suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, named after ex-convict Timothy Beard.
Formsbeards(plural) · beards(present, singular, third-person) · bearding(participle, present) · bearded(participle, past) · bearded(past)