What does "beak" mean?
A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc.
Beak
noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·1 syllable ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc.
- Grammar: beak is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: bill, antlia, arbiter, arbitrator.
- Useful contrasts: civilian, unbeaked.
- Usage evidence: The bird picked up the twig with its beak and flew to its nest.
How to use "beak"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "beak" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "beak" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "beak" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "beak" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "beak" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "bill" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "beak", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc. countable, uncountable
- 2 A justice of the peace; a magistrate. British, slang
"They take up men, Dick, for going about in women's clothes, and vice versaw, I suppose. You'll bail me, old fellaa, if I have to make my bow to the beak, won't you?"
- 3 horny projecting mouth of a bird wordnet
- 4 A similar pointed structure forming the nose and mouth of various animals, such as turtles, platypuses, whales, etc. countable, uncountable
- 5 A schoolmaster (originally, at Eton). slang
"It’s easy enough to be a beak when you’re young and athletic, and can offer the latest University smattering. The difficulty is to keep your place when you get old and stiff, and younger smatterers are pushing up behind you. Crawl into a boarding-house and you’re safe. A master’s life is frightfully tragic."
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 beaklike mouth of animals other than birds (e.g., turtles) wordnet
- 7 The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera. countable, uncountable
- 8 informal terms for the nose wordnet
- 9 The upper or projecting part of the shell, near the hinge of a bivalve. countable, uncountable
- 10 a beaklike, tapering tip on certain plant structures wordnet
- 11 The prolongation of certain univalve shells containing the canal. countable, uncountable
- 12 Any process somewhat like the beak of a bird, terminating the fruit or other parts of a plant. countable, uncountable
- 13 Anything projecting or ending in a point like a beak, such as a promontory of land. broadly, countable, uncountable
"At the townes end, Cuddenbeak, an ancient house of the Bishops, from a well aduanced Promontory, which intituled it Beak"
- 14 A continuous slight projection ending in an arris or narrow fillet; that part of a drip from which the water is thrown off. broadly, countable, uncountable
- 15 A toe clip. broadly, countable, uncountable
- 16 That part of a ship, before the forecastle, which is fastened to the stem, and supported by the main knee. broadly, countable, uncountable
"Holonyms: bow, stem, forestem, prow, prore < ship < vessel"
- 17 A beam, shod or armed at the end with a metal head or point, and projecting from the prow of an ancient galley, used as a ram to pierce the vessel of an enemy. broadly, countable, uncountable
"Holonyms: bow, stem, forestem, prow, prore < ship < vessel"
- 18 Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Libythea, notable for the beak-like elongation on their heads. broadly, countable, uncountable
- 19 A person's nose, especially one that is large and pointed. countable, slang, uncountable
""You mind your own business, curse you!" growled Silas. "I've told you before now not to push that long, sheeny beak of yours into my affairs. If you was a man I'd know better how to speak to you.""
- 20 A person's mouth. countable, slang, uncountable
"Shut your beak!"
- 21 Cocaine. Southern-England, slang, uncountable
"I just stay in bed till about 2pm. Then I sit around and smoke weed. Sometimes we do beak [cocaine] or garys [ecstasy or MDMA] but I don't do that on the street because your jaw swings like fuck and you would need a good kip half the time. I do it every weekend though and it's fucking great. I'm being good tonight. I'll have a Bud and a smoke."
Verb
- 1 To strike with the beak. transitive
- 2 hit lightly with a picking motion wordnet
- 3 To seize with the beak. transitive
- 4 To play truant. Northern-Ireland, intransitive
"Knew the Jampot well. I spent many an afternoon while I was beaking school in that fine establishment."
Example
"The bird picked up the twig with its beak and flew to its nest."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "beak"?
Common synonyms include: bill, antlia, arbiter, arbitrator, beezer, bencher.
How do you use "beak" in a sentence?
The bird picked up the twig with its beak and flew to its nest.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English bec, borrowed from Anglo-Norman bec, Old French bec, from Latin beccus, from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos (“beak, snout”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Breton beg (“beak”). Compare Saterland Frisian Bäk (“mouth; muzzle; beak”); Dutch bek (“beak; bill; neb”).
Etymology 2
Unknown; originally cant; first recorded in 17thC; probably related to obsolete cant beck "constable".