a large, amphibious rodent of the genus Castor, having sharp incisors, webbed hind feet, and a flattened tail, noted for its ability to dam streams with trees, branches, etc.
the fur of this animal.
a flat, round hat made of beaver fur or a similar fabric.
a tall, cylindrical hat for men, formerly made of beaver and now of a fabric simulating this fur.
Informal. a full beard or a man wearing one.
Informal. an exceptionally active or hard-working person.
Slang: Vulgar.
a woman's pubic area.
Offensive. a term used to refer to a woman.
Textiles.
a cotton cloth with a thick nap, used chiefly in the manufacture of work clothes.
(formerly) a heavy, soft, woolen cloth with a thick nap, made to resemble beaver fur.
none Beaver a native or inhabitant of Oregon, the Beaver State (used as a nickname).
a piece of plate armor for covering the lower part of the face and throat, worn especially with an open helmet, as a sallet or basinet.
a piece of plate armor, pivoted at the sides, forming part of a close helmet below the visor or ventail.
a large amphibious rodent, Castor fiber , of Europe, Asia, and North America: family Castoridae . It has soft brown fur, a broad flat hairless tail, and webbed hind feet, and constructs complex dams and houses (lodges) in rivers
the fur of this animal
a burrowing rodent, Aplodontia rufa , of W North America: family Aplodontidae
a tall hat of beaver fur or a fabric resembling it, worn, esp by men, during the 19th century
a woollen napped cloth resembling beaver fur, formerly much used for overcoats, etc
a greyish- or yellowish-brown
obsolete a full beard
a bearded man
(modifier) having the colour of beaver or made of beaver fur or some similar material
a beaver lamb coat
a beaver stole
Beaver as a term for a woman is perceived as insulting because it refers to the female in sexual terms. However, in the 1970s, it was CB radio slang, neutral in connotation and even used by women themselves as a term of self-reference.
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bever, Old English beofor, befor; cognate with German Biber, akin to Lithuanian bebrùs, Russian bobr, Latin fiber, Sanskrit babhrús “reddish brown,” also an animal resembling a mongoose
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English bavier, bavour, beaver, from Middle French baviere ( Old French: “child's bib”), equivalent to bave “spit, dribble” + -iere, from Latin -āria, feminine of -ārius -ary; alteration of vowel in the initial syllable is due to confusion with beaver hat
A beaver is a water- and land-dwelling animal with a very broad tail, short fur, and prominent front teeth. Beavers are famous for their ability to build dams across rivers and streams. Beavers are actually rodents, so they are related to mice and rats, though they're much larger. Their long teeth make it possible for them to chew through even broad tree trunks, felling them across bodies of water to create dams. This provides the beavers with a safe home or lodge, protected by the ponds they've created and usually accessible only underwater. The word beaver has a Proto-Indo-European root that means "brown" or "bright."
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Among other things, the beaver and moose are both “facing right with wide eyes and a smile,” it notes in a lawsuit filed this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Eleanor Nash, community ranger at Forestry England, said beaver kits were nursed for about two to three months.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Soccer fans visiting a very large gas station for the first time… carry-on BBQ sandwiches & beaver nuggets?
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
Montreal’s mascot was Amik, the industrious Canadian beaver.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
But there was a log extending about twenty feet out into the water of the lake—a beaver drop from some time before—with old limbs sticking up, almost like handles.
From "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
“Behind the friendly, cap-wearing Beaver with the goofy smile is a hit-style trademark enforcement legal team that is slowly taking-out cartoon animals one by one,” trademark attorney Alice Denenberg wrote in an online post.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
One of six large wildfires burning in Utah, it severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort in Beaver County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
The licence was granted by Natural England, secured in partnership with the Beaver Trust.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
Beaver is one of those manosphere gurus who preside over dismal power-of-positive-thinking seminars in hotel conference rooms where lost men gather for advice on how to win.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
Mr. Beaver moved his lips, but no words came out.
From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
A colony of beavers reintroduced to an area of west London has helped prevent a railway station from flooding, according to the project behind their return.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
The beavers slow the flow of water during downpours and create wetlands that hold it back, easing pressure on the drainage system further downstream.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Termites construct skyscrapers and beavers build majestic dams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
In Yellowstone National Park, their return has been praised with reducing the overabundant elk population and allowing decimated trees such as willows and aspen to recover, which subsequently brought the return of beavers and songbirds.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2026
They talked about beavers and worms and then came to the second Blue’s clue — an iceberg.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
If Musk had quietly beavered away on something that might have helped, that would have been one thing, but that isn’t Musk’s style – he happily admits to his own arrogance.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2018
For two months, they beavered away at the problem.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2014
There were issues of "privacy" and "commercial confidentiality" here apparently, as big hackers beavered away untouched.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 28, 2013
"They have beavered away trying this and trying that and the formulations have changed over the last 50 years, but not radically."
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2011
He is a most industrious small chopper, and the other day gnawed down, or as the children call it, "beavered" down, a misshapen tulip tree, which was about fifty feet high.
From Letters to His Children by Roosevelt, Theodore
A detective, in the form of a Firmin scholar, is beavering around.
From New York Times ● May 1, 2023
Adam Le Doux, the creator of the game-making software, was working as a programmer at Microsoft while beavering away on creative projects in his spare time.
From The Verge ● Mar. 7, 2022
Hewlett, meanwhile, has been beavering away at his home in Paris.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2020
Still, alphas from Yale or Harvard aren’t likely to be happy beavering away on projects that never reach fruition.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 11, 2017
"Tain t as bad as beavering," answered Sam.
From Two Little Savages Being the adventures of two boys who lived as Indians and what they learned by Seton, Ernest Thompson
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.
