Beard (bērd), 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.]
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 grass (Bot.), a coarse, perennial
grass of different species of the genus Andropogon. --
To one's beard, to one's face; in open
defiance.
Beard (bērd), 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.
2. To oppose to the face; to set at
defiance.
No admiral, bearded by these 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.
