beak

[beek]

noun

1. the bill of a bird; neb.

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

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

4. Slang.,  a person's nose.

5. Entomology.,  proboscis.

6. Botany.,  a narrowed or prolonged tip.

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

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

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

10. Chiefly British Slang.

    1. a judge; magistrate.

    2. a schoolmaster.

beak

¹

/ biːkt, biːk /

noun

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

2. any beaklike mouthpart in other animals, such as turtles

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

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

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

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

7. nautical another word for ram

beak

²

/ biːk /

noun

1. a Brit slang word for judge magistrate headmaster schoolmaster

Other Word Forms

• beaked adjective
• beakless adjective
• beaklike adjective
• beaky adjective
• underbeak noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of beak¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of beak¹

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

Origin of beak²

C19: originally thieves' jargon

Example Sentences

The puffin gripped the fish with his beak.

Read more on Literature

By then, however, the golden beak had long vanished and its original, three-dimensional shape had folded into its current fan-like form.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile the narrator’s financially devious husband appears as a vulture with “the brooding eye, the blood-tipped beak, the flabby folds of flesh” of a bird of prey.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Many of the beasts have comical attributes: feathered elbows, parrot beaks or sail-like membranes on their heads.

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“Suddenly with a plop, the egg landed on the straw. With clucks of pleasure the hen shook her feathers, nudged the egg with her beak, and left,” Goodall wrote almost 60 years later.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• snout