a thick growth of hair on the face, especially on an adult man, often including a mustache.
He's been growing out his beard for a couple of months, and it's filling in nicely.
Zoology. a tuft, growth, or part resembling or suggesting the thick growth of hair on the human face, such as the tuft of long hairs on the lower jaw of a goat or the cluster of hairlike feathers at the base of the bill in certain birds.
Botany. a tuft or growth of awns or the like, as on wheat or barley.
a barb or catch on an arrow, fishhook, knitting needle, crochet needle, etc.
Also called bevel neck. Printing.
the sloping part of a type that connects the face with the shoulder of the body.
British. the space on a type between the bottom of the face of an x-high character and the edge of the body, comprising both beard and shoulder.
the cross stroke on the stem of a capital G.
Slang. a romantic partner chosen to conceal a person's sexual orientation, especially that of a gay or lesbian person.
Charles Austin, 1874–1948, and his wife Mary, 1876–1958, U.S. historians.
Daniel Carter, 1850–1941, U.S. artist and naturalist: organized the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.
James Andrew, 1903–85, U.S. cooking teacher and food writer.
the hair growing on the lower parts of a man's face
any similar growth in animals
a tuft of long hairs in plants such as barley and wheat; awn
the gills of an oyster
a barb, as on an arrow or fish-hook
slang a woman who accompanies a homosexual man to give the impression that he is heterosexual
printing the part of a piece of type that connects the face with the shoulder
to oppose boldly or impertinently
to pull or grasp the beard of
First recorded before 900; Middle English berd, Old English beard; cognate with Dutch baard, German Bart, Late Latin Langobardi “Long-beards (name of the Lombards),” Crimean Gothic bars; akin to Latin barba, Lithuanian barzdà, Old Church Slavonic brada, Russian borodá
A beard is the facial hair on a person's chin and cheeks. Santa Claus is famous in part for his long, white beard. You're most likely to see a beard on an adult man, although some women grow enough facial hair to sport a beard too. Some animals, like goats, have beards as well. Someone whose presence helps another person disguise his identity — maybe because he's a spy — is often informally called a beard as well.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Bûcheron — James Beard Award-winning Bûcheron may have softened my love-hate relationship with French cuisine.
From Salon • Jun. 11, 2026
Beard, the Australian tour operator, hadn’t visited since before the pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
Phil Lempert, editor of SupermarketGuru.com, recommends a James Beard Foundation “blended burger” recipe, which uses equal parts portabella mushrooms and ground beef.
From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026
The ceremony in London also celebrated the induction of Casey Stoney, Kerys Harrop and Matt Beard, who died in September, into the WSL Hall of Fame.
From BBC • May 18, 2026
“Come on, we’re going to Beard Papa’s. We’ll bring stuff back. Ben, you coming?”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
