beak

[beek]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR beak ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the bill of a bird; neb.

any similar horny mouthpart in other animals, as the turtle or duckbill.

anything beaklike or ending in a point, as the spout of a pitcher.

Slang. a person's nose.

Entomology. proboscis(def 3).

Botany. a narrowed or prolonged tip.

Nautical. (formerly) a metal or metal-sheathed projection from the bow of a warship, used to ram enemy vessels; ram; rostrum.

Typography. a serif on the arm of a character, as of a K.

Also called bird's beak. Architecture. a pendant molding forming a drip, as on the soffit of a cornice.

Chiefly British Slang.

a judge; magistrate.
a schoolmaster.

Origin of beak

1175–1225; Middle English bec < Old French < Latin beccus < Gaulish

Related formsbeaked

[beekt, bee-kid] /bikt, ˈbi kɪd/, adjectivebeak·less, adjectivebeak·like, adjectivebeak·y, adjectiveun·der·beak, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for beak

snout, muzzle, proboscis, projection, nozzle, bill, prow, nib, neb, mandible, pecker

Examples from the Web for beak

Contemporary Examples of beak

The key part of the costume, beyond the head-to-toe fabric, was the beak.
It’s Not Time to Worry About China’s Plague Just Yet
Kent Sepkowitz
July 23, 2014
The Duck Dynasty congressman got caught sticking his beak in the wrong place.
Duck Dynasty Congressman In Sex Scandal
Ben Jacobs
April 7, 2014
I also like a bird's beak knife, for fiddly decorative things like making radish flowers and skinning apples in one long peel.
The 2012 Holiday Kitchen Gift Guide
Megan McArdle
December 13, 2012

Historical Examples of beak

I am lean and bony and I've got a beak where I should have a nose.
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter
All I do know was, that I was brought before a beak and charged with stealing.
Australia Revenged
Boomerang
He brought them alive in his beak, and gave them to his companion.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850.
Various
And the beak giv' 'em six weeks—coss the ship warn't overloaded.
The Nigger Of The "Narcissus"
Joseph Conrad
I can see her figure-head distinctly—a bird with a beak as big as its head.'
A Pair of Blue Eyes
Thomas Hardy

British Dictionary definitions for beak

beak

noun

the projecting jaws of a bird, covered with a horny sheath; bill

any beaklike mouthpart in other animals, such as turtles

slang a person's nose, esp one that is large, pointed, or hooked

any projecting part, such as the pouring lip of a bucket

architect the upper surface of a cornice, which slopes out to throw off water

chem the part of a still or retort through which vapour passes to the condenser

nautical another word for ram (def. 5)

Derived Formsbeaked (biːkt), adjectivebeakless, adjectivebeaklike, adjectivebeaky, adjective

Word Origin for beak

C13: from Old French bec, from Latin beccus, of Gaulish origin

beak

noun

a Brit slang word for judge, magistrate, headmaster, schoolmaster

Word Origin for beak

C19: originally thieves' jargon

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for beak

mid-13c., "bird's bill," from Old French bec "beak," figuratively "mouth," also "tip or point of a nose, a lance, a ship, a shoe," from Latin beccus (cf. Italian becco, Spanish pico), said by Suetonius ("De vita Caesarum" 18) to be of Gaulish origin, perhaps from Gaulish beccus, possibly related to Celtic stem bacc- "hook." Or there may be a link in Old English becca "pickax, sharp end." Jocular sense of "human nose" is from 1854 (but also was used mid-15c. in the same sense).