beard

UK: /ˈbɪə^rd/ US: /bɪrd/ ,(bērd)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

beard /bɪrd/   n. 

[countable]
1. hair growing on the lower part of the face:
   I shaved my beard before the interview.
2. Biology a similar growth on the chin of some animals:
   the beard of a goat.

v. [~ + object]

3. to oppose (someone) boldly;
   defy:
   It took courage for him to beard the board of directors.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

beard  (bērd), n. 

1. the growth of hair on the face of an adult man, often including a mustache.
2. Zoology a tuft, growth, or part resembling or suggesting a human beard, as the tuft of long hairs on the lower jaw of a goat or the cluster of hairlike feathers at the base of the bill in certain birds.
3. Botany a tuft or growth of awns or the like, as on wheat or barley.
4. a barb or catch on an arrow, fishhook, knitting needle, crochet needle, etc.
5. Printing Also called bevel neck. 
   • Printing the sloping part of a type that connects the face with the shoulder of the body.
   • Printing [Brit.] the space on a type between the bottom of the face of an x-high character and the edge of the body, comprising both beard and shoulder.
   • Printing the cross stroke on the stem of a capital G. See diag. under type. 

v.t. 

6. to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of:
   The hoodlums bearded the old man.
7. to oppose boldly;
   defy:
   It took courage for the mayor to beard the pressure groups.
8. to supply with a beard.

• bef. 900; Middle English berd, Old English beard; cognate with German Bart, Dutch baard, Late Latin Langobardi Long-beards, name of the Lombards, Crimean Gothic bars, Latin barba ( Welsh barf ), Lithuanian barzdà, Old Church Slavonic brada, Russian borodá; European Indo-European * bH_aer-dhā, perh. akin to barley¹

beard′like′, adj. 
Synonyms

• 7. confront, brave, dare, face, challenge.

Beard  (bērd), n. 

1. Biographical Charles Austin, 1874–1948, and his wife Mary, 1876–1958, U.S. historians.
2. Biographical Daniel Carter, 1850–1941, U.S. artist and naturalist: organized the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

beard / bɪəd/ noun

1. the hair growing on the lower parts of a man's face
2. any similar growth in animals
3. a tuft of long hairs in plants such as barley and wheat; awn
4. a barb, as on an arrow or fish-hook

verb (transitive)

1. to oppose boldly or impertinently

Etymology: Old English beard; related to Old Norse barth, Old High German bart, Latin barba

ˈbearded adjective