Beard sb.

Forms: 1–3 beard, (3 bærd, beord, burde), 3–6 berd, (4–6 berde), 5–6 beerd(e, 6 (Sc. baird, beird), bearde, 6– beard. [Common Teut.: OE. beard (:—earlier *bard, *bærd) = MDu. baert, Du. baard, OHG., mod.G. bart, ON. *barðr retained only in comp. as Langbarðr (but cogn. with barð neuter, ‘brim, edge, beak, prow,’ whence sense 11 below):—OTeut. *bardo-z (not known in Gothic); cogn. w. OSlav. barda beard. Kinship to L. barba is, on phonetic grounds, doubtful. As to identity of OE. and mod. spelling see BEACON.]

  1.  The hair that grows upon the chin, lips, and adjacent parts of an adult man’s face; now usually excluding the moustache, or hair of the upper lip.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, cxxxiii. 2. Swe swe smiring in heafde ðæt astaʓ in beard Aarones.

c. 1205.  Lay., 10753. Ælcne mon … þe hæfde on his chinne bærd [1250 beord].

c. 1230.  Wohunge, in Cott. Hom., 279. Þen mon him for schendlac i þe beard spitted.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3584. Ðo wiste he wel quilc hauen it don, Sene it was here berdes on.

a. 1300.  K. Alis., 1164. Swithe mury hit is in halle, When the burdes wawen alle!

1382.  Wyclif, Isa. xiv. 2. Eche berd [1388 beerd] shal be shaue.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. I. 205. Longobardi … haueþ þe name of her longe berdes.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., 120. Men leten her berdis growe withoute schering.

a. 1550.  Christis Kirk Gr., xix. Bludy berkit wes thair beird.

1589.  Pappe w. Hatchet, D. Let me stroake my beard thrice like a Germin, before I speak a wise word.

1716.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett., vi. I. 20. A decrepit old man, with a beard down to his knees.

1757.  Burke, Abridgm. Eng. Hist., Wks. X. 184. The Britons … shaved the beard on the chin, that on the upper lip was suffered to remain.

1834.  Byron, Deform. Transf., I. i. Broad brow, and … curly beard.

  b.  with qualifying epithet, e.g., Cads-beard, ? Cadiz-beard; tile- or cathedral-beard, one cut square in the shape of a tile.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., I. ii. 97. Your purple in graine beard, or your French-crowne colour’d beard.

1598.  E. Gilpin, Skial. (1878), 22. His face, Furr’d with Cads-beard.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., VII. vii. I. 325. Who is this … in red-grizzled locks; nay with long tile-beard?

1860.  Fairholt, Costume, 229. The soldier wore the spade beard and the stiletto beard.

  c.  transf. or fig.

a. 1856.  Longf., Build. Ship, 274. His [the ocean’s] beard of snow Heaves with the heaving of his breast.

  d.  allusively, of age, experience, virility; cf. GREYBEARD.

1591.  Florio, 2nd Fruites, 41. A greater beard than mine might be deceaued.

1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., IV. xix. 357 (J.). Would it not be an insufferable a thing for a learned Professor … to have … a reverend Beard, in an instant overturned by an upstart Novelist…?

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal’s Sat., VI. (1754), 65 (J.).

  e.  Phrases. † In spite of or maugre any one’s beard: in defiance of or direct opposition to his purpose. To one’s beard: to one’s face, openly. † To be, meet, or run in any one’s beard: to oppose him openly and resolutely, to BEARD. To take by the beard: to attack resolutely (cf. 1 Sam. xvii. 35). † To make a man’s beard: (lit.) to dress his beard, (fig.) to outwit or delude him. So † To make a man’s beard without a razor: (in later sense) to behead him. † To put something against a man’s beard: to taunt him with it.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., 207. Þe cuntre sone he fond in his berd redy ran.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, 689. Moo berdys in two oures Withoute Rasour or Sisoures Y-made, then greyndes be of sondes. Ibid. (c. 1386), Wyf’s Prol., 361. Yit couthe I make his berd, though queynte he be.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. II. 325. A morwe a man of Hebrewe putte þat aȝen Moyses berd.

c. 1450.  Rob. Hood (Ritson), I. I. 361. Thou art euer in my berde, sayd the abbot.

c. 1500.  Lancelot, 3471. If that we met them scharply in the berd.

1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxiii. 59. If I get you … I shall delyuer you to Joselyn, that shall make your beerdes without any rasoure.

1555.  Traves, Lett., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., III. II. App. xxxiii. Yea mawgre the berdis of al hard harts, God wil at length … delyver thee.

1601.  Dent, Pathw. Heaven, 80. Yet at last they must (spight of their beards) end where they began.

1785.  Cowper, Task, II. 271. Shamed as we have been, to th’ very beard.

1809.  W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 21. A gigantic question … which I must needs take by the beard and utterly subdue.

  2.  The similar hairy tuft or growth on the lower jaw or adjacent parts of the face of other animals; e.g., the goat, lion, ibex, seal.

c. 1300.  K. Alis., 6519. A best … y-cleped Cessus … Berd hit hadde long y-waxe.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7509. A bere a lyon baþ I mette … and shoke ham bi þe berde squa.

1480.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxi. 194. A gote … that shuld haue hornes of siluer and a berde as white as snowe.

1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 138. Whose valour plucks dead Lyons by the beard.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 485. The Pastor shears their hoary Beards.

c. 1840.  Wood, Nat. Hist., I. 670. A Goat … is easily conquered if his beard can only be grasped.

  3.  Zool. a. The appendages to the mouth of some fishes. b. The rows of gills in certain bivalves, e.g., the Oyster. c. The byssus or mass of threads by which certain shell-fish (e.g., the Pinna) attach themselves to rocks, etc. d. (See quot. 1802.) e. Two small oblong fleshy bodies situated just above the antlia or spiral sucker of moths and butterflies; the corresponding part in some Diptera, e.g., the Gnat.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Beard of a muscle … [also of insects].

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), II. IV. vi. 367. These threads which are usually termed the beard of the mussel.

1796.  Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xi. 175. Wash the oysters very clean … and take the beards off.

1802.  Paley, Nat. Theol., xvi. (1817), 140. The play of the rings in an earthworm … the beards or prickles, with which the annuli are armed.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist (1850), 136/2. ‘A’n’t yer fond of oysters?’… ‘Here’s one with such a beautiful, delicate beard!’

  4.  Ornith. a. The cluster of bristles at the base of the beak in some birds, as the Barbet (Bucco). b. The vane or soft lateral filaments of a feather.

1802.  Paley, Nat. Theol., xii. (1817), 106. The separate pieces, or laminæ, of which the beard [of a feather] is composed.

1835.  Penny Cycl., III. 433/2. [In Bucco] Pogonias … the beard is very strong.

1836.  Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 350/1. All feathers are composed of … a vane or beard.

  5.  Applied as specific name of: The freshwater Shrimp, the Hake, and a kind of pigeon.

1611.  Cotgr., Petite crevette de rivière, the Beard, or freshwater Shrimpe.

a. 1766.  Pennant, Zool. (1769), III. 158. The lesser hake … is known on the coast of Cornwall by the name of the greater forked beard.

1867.  Tegetmeier, Pigeons, x. 108. In other parts of Germany they have many clean-footed Tumblers of various colours, as Magpies, Helmets, and Beards; but their Beards have only a white beard and flight-feathers, the rest of the body being dark.

  6.  Bot. The awn of grasses; prickles, bristles, or hair-like tufts found on various plants; also quasi-fig. in wider application.

1552.  Huloet, Beard or eare of corne, arista.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 456. Rough with many sharp pointed eares or beardes, like the eares of Barley.

c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., xii. Summers green all girded up in sheaves, Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard.

1732.  Acc. Workhouses, 84. Cut off the beards before the wheat is thresh’d.

1813.  Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), 364. The seeds … like those of the thistle and dandelion, are furnished with beards or wings.

1839.  Bailey, Festus, vii. Sunshine … catching By its soft brown beard, the moss.

1865.  Burritt, Walk to Land’s End, 106. English downs … yielding a short, crisp beard of herbage.

  b.  Old-Man’s Beard: popular name of the Traveller’s Joy (Clematis Vitalba).

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 84. Dig old man’s beard from woodland hedge, To twine a summer shade.

  † 7.  Obsolete name for the train or tail of a comet when it appeared to precede the nucleus.

1647.  H. More, Song Soul, II. App. xciv. But for the new-fixt starres there’s no pretence, Nor beard nor tail to take occasion by.

1713.  Swift, Eleg. Partridge, Wks. 1755, III. II. 79. No comet with a flaming beard.

1855.  T. Milner, Gallery of Nat., 108. When the train preceded the nucleus … it was called the beard.

  8.  Farriery. ‘That part of a horse’s nether jaw whereon the curbe doth rest.’ (Cotgr., s.v. Barbe.)

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Beard, or under-beard, called also chuck, of a horse, is that part under the lower mandible or the outside, and above the chin, which bears the curb of the bridle.

1792.  Osbaldiston, Brit. Sportsm., 49. Beard of a horse, should neither be too high raised, nor too flat, so that the curb may rest in its right place. [In mod. dicts.]

  9.  a. The barb of an arrow, fish-hook, etc. Obs. b. Hence, The hook at the end of a knitting-needle in a knitting-machine, which holds the yarn.

1611.  Markham, Countr. Content., I. x. 56. Cut out and raise up the beard, which you shall make … according to the bigness of the hook.

1712.  Phil. Trans., XXVII. 444. The Beard or Hooks thereof [of the Harping Iron] did penetrate.

1713.  Derham, Phys. Theol., IV. xv. 257. The Common Heron hath … a long sharp Bill to strike their Prey … with sharp hooked Beards standing backward, to hold their Prey fast when struck.

1753.  Hanway, Trav. (1762), I. III. xxxvii. 171. Who wore in their caps the beard of an arrow.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 42, note. Jag or bearded bolts … have a beard raised upon their angles, somewhat like that of a fish-hook.

  10.  (See quot.)

1871.  E. Peacock, R. Skirlaugh, II. 166. Cattle, which had at these points to be kept out by a stout ‘beard’ of thorns stuck in the ground.

1878.  Halliwell, Beard-hedge, the bushes which are stuck into the bank of a new-made hedge, to protect the fresh-planted thorns.

  11.  In mechanical arts: a. in Ship building, The angular fore-part of the rudder; the corresponding bevel of the stern-post. b. in Carpentry, The sharp edge of a board. c. in Organ-building (see quot.) d. A spring-piece at the back of a lock to prevent the parts from rattling.

1691.  T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 82. To sheath the … Beard of the Rudder with Lead.

1852.  Seidel, Organ, 79. Some organ-builders provide the height on both sides with what they call a beard.

1876.  Hiles, Catech. Organ, iv. (1878), 27. Flue-pipes have also occasionally a beard, which is a cross piece fastened on just below the under-lip.

  e.  Printing. (a.) That part of the type above and below the face, which allows for ascending and descending letters, and prevents their meeting those in the lines above or below. (b.) The horizontal bases and tops added to the letters.

1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 144. A moveable square of wood, which rises nearly as high as the beard of the letter.

1824.  J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 521. He examines if the beards of the letter print at the feet of the pages.

1860.  Bookseller, 26 Oct., 574. [In] the Franklin type … there are no sharp beards to the letters, and the outline is consequently distinct.

  12.  ‘The coarser parts of a joint of meat. The bad portions of a fleece of wool.’ Halliwell.

  13.  The brim or margin of a vessel. [Directly from ON. barð.] Obs. or dial., but possibly the origin of some of the prec. specific uses.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. liii. Þe wyne wol flete oute ouer þe berdes [1535 brynke].

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 32. Berde, or brynke of a wesselle, or other like, margo.

  14.  Comb., chiefly attrib., as beard-brush, -hook, -stubble; also beard-grass, the genus of grasses Polypogon; † beard-grave a., having the gravity of a bearded face; beard-moss, a British lichen (Usnea barbata); beard-tree, the Hazel.

1630.  B. Jonson, New Inn, I. i. He’ll tell you what is Latin for a looking-glass, A *beard-brush.

1841.  Withering’s Brit. Plants (Macgillivray), 73. Annual *Beard-grass … grows in moist pastures.

1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, III. x. 222. Tut, tut, a toy … Cryes *beard-graue Dromus.

1799.  G. Smith, Laborat., II. 266. The *Beard Hook, by some anglers is preferred before any other in winter trolling.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. V. iii. 268. Plenteous … *beard-stubble, of a tile-colour.