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Beak
Definitions
- 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."
- 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."
Etymology
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”).
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”).
Unknown; originally cant; first recorded in 17thC; probably related to obsolete cant beck "constable".
See also for "beak"
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