Forms: 1 beofor, befor, (byfor, befer), 2–7 beuer, 4–8 bever, 5 bevere, -yr, 6 beauer, 7 beavor, 6– beaver. [One of the animal names common to the Aryan family: OE. beofor, earlier befor (= bevor), identical with LG. and Du. bever, OHG. bibar, mod.G. biber:—OTeut. *bebru-z; cogn. w. Lith. bebru-s, Boh. bobr, OSlav. bebru-, L. fiber, ‘beaver’; also with Skr. babhrús ‘brown,’ and as sb. ‘great ichneumon’:—OAryan *bhebhrú-s, reduplicated deriv. of bhru- brown, with sense of ‘brown’ or ‘red-brown,’ and ‘brown water-animal.’]
1. An amphibious rodent, distinguished by its broad, oval, horizontally flattened, scaly tail, palmated hind feet, coat of soft fur, and hard incisor teeth with which it cuts down trees; remarkable for its skill in constructing huts of mud and wood for its habitation, and dams for preserving its supply of water.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram. (Zup.), 27. Fiber, befor, beofor.
c. 1200. Moral Ode, 362, in Lamb. Hom., 181. Ne scal þer beo fou ne grei … ne beuer ne sabeline.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. VI. 205. Beverlay … the place or lake of bevers.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk. (1868), 153. To peson or frumenty take þe tayle of þe bevere.
1591. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 1124. Monstrous beasts … Bred of two kindes, as Griffons, Minotaures … Beavers, and Centaures.
a. 1667. Cowley, Love’s Riddle, I. i. His lips … Softer than Bevers Skins.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. I. vi. 49. One beaver should exchange for or be worth two deer.
1855. Longf., Hiaw., III. 153. How the beavers built their lodges.
2. The fur of the beaver.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 295. A cote haþ he furred, Wiþ foyns … oþer fyn beuer.
1532–3. Act 24 Hen. VIII., xiii. Any maner of furre, other then … otter and beuer.
1613. Wither, Epithal., in Juvenilia (1633), 363. A hat of Bever.
1739. Gray, in Mason, Life (ed. 2), 62. With muffs, hoods, and masks of bever.
1837. Marryat, Dog-fiend, x. He pulled off some beaver from his hat to staunch the blood.
fig. 1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. (1641), 30/1. Green Carpets, thrumd with mossie Bever, Fringing the round Skirts of his winding River.
b. attrib., esp. in beaver hat, bonnet: see next.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 272. On his hed a Flaundrish bever hat.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus. (1877), 50, note. Bever hattes, of xx., xxx., or xl. shillinges price.
1740. Swift, Will, Wks. 1745, VIII. 383. The second best beaver hat I shall die possessed of.
1844. Dickens, Mar. Chuz., v. Farmers’ wives in beaver bonnets and red cloaks.
3. A hat made of beaver’s fur, or some imitation of it; formerly worn by both sexes, but chiefly by men.
1528. Roy, Sat. To exalte the thre folde crowne Of antichrist hys bever.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, I. ii. xxxviii. A Yongster gent With bever cock’t.
1661. Pepys, Diary, 27 June. Mr. Holden sent me a bever, which cost me 4£ 5s.
1766. [C. Anstey], Bath Guide, xi. 97. To preside at her Balls in a Cream-colour’d Beaver.
1810. Crabbe, Borough, iv. Wks. 1834, III. 80. The simple Friend … in drab and beaver.
1885. Cornh. Mag., June, 649. His crumpled beaver—there might be some difficulty in lighting on a beaver nowaday except in a museum.
a. In beaver (Univ. slang). In a tall hat (and the costume which accompanies it) instead of cap and gown; in non-academical costume.
1840. New Monthly Mag., LIX. 271. He … went out of college in what the members of the United Service call mufti, but members of the University beaver, which means, not in his academics—his cap and gown.
4. A felted cloth, used for overcoats, etc.
1756. Gentl. Mag., XXVI. 618. Their carpets and bevers … retain the electrical virtue, and prevent its spreading to the floor.
1810. J. T., in Risdon’s Surv. Devon, Introd. 25. Coatings, beavers … found a market.
5. A particular kind of glove.
1816. Miss Austen, Emma (1870), II. vi. 169. Well tied parcels of ‘Men’s Beavers’ and ‘York Tan.’
[1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz (1850), 131/2. In a black coat … gaiters, and brown beaver gloves.]
6. Comb., chiefly attrib., as beaver-dam, -fur, -intellect, -kind, -pond, -skin, -wool (= fur); beaver-like adj. Also beaver-rat, the musquash or MUSK-RAT; beaver-stones, the two small sacs in the groin of the beaver, from which the substance ‘castor’ is obtained.
1725. Lond. Gaz., No. 6383/4. Ann Messenger,… *Beaver-Cutter.
1676. T. Glover, in Phil. Trans., XI. 626. The Bevers … gnaw down trees, wherewith they make … *Bever-damms.
1855. Wood, Anim. Life, 421. The *beaver-fur will work its way completely through the felt.
1850. Carlyle, Latter-d. Pamph., iv. 2. The intellect of the Nineteenth Century … is itself a mechanical or *beaver-intellect.
1735. Somerville, Chase, IV. 379. This subtle Spoiler of the *Beaver kind.
1875. Helps, Anim. & Mast., iii. 59. Words of wisdom, of *beaver-like sagacity.
1884. Cassell’s Fam. Mag., April, 272/2. The *‘beaver-rat’ is another singular animal.
1761. Brit. Mag., 7 Jan., II. 52. This day 10,000 *beaver skins … were entered from Quebec.
1697. Dryden, Virgil (1806), I. 207. Pontus sends her *beaver-stones from far.
1780. Coxe, Russ. Disc., 114. On one side set close with *beaver-wool like velvet.
