Beards

beard

 (bîrd)

n.

1. A growth of hair on the chin, cheeks, and throat of a person, especially a man.

2. A tuft or growth of hairs, bristles, or other hairlike threads on a plant or animal.

3. One who serves to divert suspicion or attention from another, especially a person of the opposite sex who accompanies a gay man or lesbian to give the impression of heterosexuality.

4. Printing The raised slope on a piece of type between the shoulder or counter and the face. Also called neck.

tr.v. beard·ed, beard·ing, beards

1. To furnish with a beard.

2. To confront boldly.

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[Middle English berd, from Old English beard; see bhardh-ā- in Indo-European roots.]

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beard′less adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Beards

See also facial features; hair.

pogoniasis

Medicine. 1. an excessive growth of beard.
2. the development of a beard by a woman.

pogonology

a treatise on beards. — pogonologist, n.

pogonophile

an admirer of beards; a student of beards.

pogonophobia

an abnormal fear or dislike of beards.

pogonotomy

the cutting of beards.

pogonotrophy

the cultivation of beards, beard-growing.

-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Beards

 

See Also: HAIR, PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

1. Bearded as Abraham —George Garrett
2. Bearded like a black sky before a storm —George Garrett
3. Beard not clipped, but flowing like a bridal veil —Sinclair Lewis
4. Beards like Spanish moss —T. Coraghessan Boyle
5. Beard stiff and jutting like a Michelangelo prophet —Harvey Swados
6. Bristly gray beard … as rusted as old iron —Paige Mitchell
7. Flecks of premature gray in his beard, like the first seeds of age beginning to sprout in him —Ross Macdonald
8. Gray beard like a goat’s chin tuft —Ernest Hemingway
9. A heavy black beard that grew high on his cheeks like a mask —James Crumley
10. His beard is like a bird’s nest, woven with dark silks —Bobbie Ann Mason
11. His red beard looked like a toy doctor’s beard stuck on a child’s face —Gloria Norris
12. His sideburn, shaped like the outline of Italy, juts out onto his jaw —Bobbie Ann Mason
13. Long beard was spread out like a little blanket on his chest —Willis Johnson
14. Massive sideburns hung like stirrups on either side of his face —Ross Macdonald
15. A neat little beard, like a bird’s nest, cupped his chin —Bobbie Ann Mason
16. A shadow of beard lay over his bony cheeks like soot on a chimney sweep —W. T. Tyler
17. Sideburns like brackets —Max Shulman
18. Sideburns stood like powerful bushy pillars to the beard —Saul Bellow
19. A small goatee stuck to his chin like a swab of surgical cotton —Dorothea Straus
20. A two-day growth of beard that made him look like a cactus —Sue Grafton
21. Whiskers grew like small creeper upon a scorched face —Frank Swinnerton

Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.