n. [ OE. berd, AS. beard; akin to Fries. berd, D. baard, G. bart, Lith. barzda, OSlav. brada, Pol. broda, Russ. boroda, L. barba, W. barf. Cf. 1st Barb. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The hair that grows on the chin, lips, and adjacent parts of the human face, chiefly of male adults. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) The long hairs about the face in animals, as in the goat. (b) The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds (c) The appendages to the jaw in some Cetacea, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes. (d) The byssus of certain shellfish, as the muscle. (e) The gills of some bivalves, as the oyster. (f) In insects, the hairs of the labial palpi of moths and butterflies. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) Long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn; as, the beard of grain. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument, projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily drawn out. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. That part of the under side of a horse's lower jaw which is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Print.) That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. An imposition; a trick. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Beard grass (Bot.), a coarse, perennial grass of different species of the genus Andropogon. --
To one's beard, to one's face; in open defiance. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bearded; p. pr. & vb. n. Bearding. ] 1. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To oppose to the face; to set at defiance. [ 1913 Webster ]

No admiral, bearded by these corrupt and dissolute minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter something about a court martial. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To deprive of the gills; -- used only of oysters and similar shellfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a beard. “Bearded fellow.” Shak. “Bearded grain.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bearded vulture,
Bearded eagle. (Zool.) See Lammergeir. --
Bearded tortoise. (Zool.) See Matamata. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Beard, n. ] (Zool.) The bearded loach (Nemachilus barbatus) of Europe. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Without a beard. Hence: Not having arrived at puberty or manhood; youthful. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Destitute of an awn; as, beardless wheat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being destitute of beard. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. prenom. 1. devoting full strength and concentrated attention to.
Syn. -- determined. [ WordNet 1.5 ]