Word: beard Part of Speech: noun Etymology: PIE word *bʰardʰéh₂ From Middle English berd, bard, bærd, from Old English beard, from Proto-West Germanic *bard, from Proto-Germanic *bardaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂, *bʰh₂erdʰeh₂. Cognates Cognate with Scots beird (“beard”), Yola bearde (“beard”), North Frisian biard (“beard”), Saterland Frisian Boart (“beard”), West Frisian burd (“beard”), Bavarian Bårt (“beard”), Dutch baard (“beard”), German Bart (“beard”), German Low German and Luxembourgish Baart (“beard”), Vilamovian biöt (“beard”), Yiddish באָרד (bord, “beard”), Icelandic barð (“brim; edge, ridge”), Norwegian Bokmål bart (“moustache”), Norwegian Nynorsk bard, barde (“edge, rim”), bart (“moustache”), Crimean Gothic bars (“beard”); also Latin barba (“beard”), Latvian bārda (“beard”), Lithuanian barzda (“beard”), Belarusian барада́ (baradá, “beard”), Bulgarian and Macedonian брада́ (bradá, “beard; chin”), Czech, Slovak, and Slovene brada (“beard”), Russian and Ukrainian борода́ (borodá, “beard”), Serbo-Croatian бра́да, bráda (“beard”). Doublet of barb. Pronunciation: /bɪəd/, [bɪːd], /bɪɹd/, /biɚd/, /bɜː(ɹ)d/ 1. Facial hair on the chin, cheeks, jaw and neck. 2. The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds. Example: 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, while he stuck up his tail and spread it out like a big wheel. 3. The appendages to the jaw in some cetaceans, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes. 4. The byssus of certain shellfish. 5. The gills of some bivalves, such as the oyster. 6. The hairs of the labial palpi of moths and butterflies. 7. The long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn. Example: the beard of grain 8. Long, hairlike feathers that protrude from the chest of a turkey. Example: While all toms—adult male turkeys—have beards, nearly 10 percent of hens also have one, albeit a much stubbier, wispier version. 9. A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument, projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily drawn out. 10. The curved underside of an axehead, extending from the lower end of the cutting edge to the axehandle. 11. That part of the underside of a horse's lower jaw which is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle. 12. That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face. Labels: dated 13. A fake customer or companion; an intermediary. Labels: slang Example: 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”. 14. A fake customer or companion; an intermediary. Labels: slang Example: What are you talking about, I should be the beard? I don't wanna be a beard. 15. A fake customer or companion; an intermediary. Labels: slang Example: 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 whom wanted him to be a lawyer. Example: Charlotte: Smith is not gay. Miranda: Of course not. Charlotte: So this makes you his beard.