beard

/bɪəd/

#13,379 of the most-used English words

noun

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.
3. The appendages to the jaw in some cetaceans, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes.
4. The byssus of certain shellfish.

verb

1. To grow hair on the chin and jaw.
2. To boldly and bravely oppose or confront, often to the chagrin of the one being bearded.
   "Robin Hood is always shown as bearding the Sheriff of Nottingham."
3. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt.
4. To deprive (an oyster or similar shellfish) of the gills.