beak

[ beek ]

/ bik /

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.

Nearby words

Origin of beak

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

Related forms

beaked

[beekt, bee-kid] /bikt, ˈbi kɪd/, adjectivebeak·less, adjectivebeak·like, adjectivebeak·y, adjective

un·der·beak, noun

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
The Duck Dynasty congressman got caught sticking his beak in the wrong place.
Duck Dynasty Congressman In Sex Scandal|Ben Jacobs|April 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
The braincase of the skull is crushed in three places as though by a raptor's beak.
American Weasels|E. Raymond Hall

His nose was thin and bony, with a high arch, and sharp at the end, like the beak of a bird.
Shaman|Robert Shea
I placed the beak of my shield over the head and neck of my horse, while I held the upper part over my own head.
King Arthur's Knights|Henry Gilbert
He is a little wizened old man with a nose like a bird's beak and he wears huge thick spectacles.
Servants of the Guns|Jeffery E. Jeffery
Beak short, slightly compressed and rounded at the tip, though more pointed than in Anomalopteryx.
Extinct Birds|Walter Rothschild

British Dictionary definitions for beak

beak

/ (biːk) /

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

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

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).