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• beaver
  beaver

  noun

  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.
• Beaver
  Beaver

  noun

  a member of a Beaver Colony , the youngest group of boys (aged 6–8 years) in the Scout Association

beaver

¹ American  

[bee-ver] / ˈbi vər /

noun

• beavers,
  plural
• beaver
  plural

1. 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.

2. the fur of this animal.

3. a flat, round hat made of beaver fur or a similar fabric.

4. a tall, cylindrical hat for men, formerly made of beaver and now of a fabric simulating this fur.

5. Informal. a full beard or a man wearing one.

6. Informal. an exceptionally active or hard-working person.

7. Slang: Vulgar.

   1. a woman's pubic area.

   2. Offensive. a term used to refer to a woman.

8. Textiles.

   1. a cotton cloth with a thick nap, used chiefly in the manufacture of work clothes.

   2. (formerly) a heavy, soft, woolen cloth with a thick nap, made to resemble beaver fur.

9. none Beaver a native or inhabitant of Oregon, the Beaver State (used as a nickname).

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verb (used without object)

• beavers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• beavered,
  past participle,  past
• beavering
  present participle

1. British. to work very hard or industriously at something (usually followed byaway ).

beaver ² American  

[bee-ver] / ˈbi vər /

noun

Armor.

1. 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.

2. a piece of plate armor, pivoted at the sides, forming part of a close helmet below the visor or ventail.

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beaver ¹ British  

/ ˈbiːvə /

noun

1. 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

2. the fur of this animal

3. a burrowing rodent, Aplodontia rufa , of W North America: family Aplodontidae

4. a tall hat of beaver fur or a fabric resembling it, worn, esp by men, during the 19th century

5. a woollen napped cloth resembling beaver fur, formerly much used for overcoats, etc

6. a greyish- or yellowish-brown

7. obsolete a full beard

8. a bearded man

9. (modifier) having the colour of beaver or made of beaver fur or some similar material

   a beaver lamb coat

   a beaver stole

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verb

1. to work industriously or steadily

Beaver ² British  

/ ˈbiːvə /

noun

1. a member of a Beaver Colony , the youngest group of boys (aged 6–8 years) in the Scout Association

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beaver ³ British  

/ ˈbiːvə /

noun

1. a movable piece on a medieval helmet used to protect the lower part of the face

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beaver Idioms  

1. see busy as a beaver; eager beaver; work like a beaver.

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Sensitive Note

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• beaverish
  adjective
• beaverlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• beaver
  plural
• beavers
  plural

Participles

• beavering
  present
• beavered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• beaver
  simple
• beavers
  simple
• have beavered
  perfect
• has beavered
  perfect
• am beavering
  progressive
• are beavering
  progressive
• is beavering
  progressive
• have been beavering
  perfect progressive
• has been beavering
  perfect progressive

Past

• beavered
  simple
• had beavered
  perfect
• was beavering
  progressive
• were beavering
  progressive
• had been beavering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will beaver
  simple
• will have beavered
  perfect
• will be beavering
  progressive
• will have been beavering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of beaver¹

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

Origin of beaver²

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

Explanation

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beaver Beaver beavers beavered beavering

We wrote here last month about the trademark lawsuits being filed by the rest-stop chain Buc-ee’s as it expands in the U.S., alleging that other companies’ mascots infringe on its trademarked beaver character.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

Soccer fans visiting a very large gas station for the first time… carry-on BBQ sandwiches & beaver nuggets?

From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026

In October 2007, while scouring Google Earth, he discovered the largest beaver dam on the planet—a 2,700-foot-long structure in northern Alberta with a 17-acre lake backed up behind it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Montreal’s mascot was Amik, the industrious Canadian beaver.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

As I come down a slope, I see a green car parked in the tall grass near a beaver dam.

From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Down the street at D’s Thirsty Beaver bar, Danielle Rees is doing a test run on serving breakfast.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

He was scheduled to carry a passenger from Fairbanks to Beaver, a predominantly Alaska Native village of fewer than 100 people about 110 miles north of the city, reachable only by air or river.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

The Ealing Beaver Project says, since the mammals moved in, Greenford station, downstream from the animals' wetland home at Paradise Fields, no longer floods after heavy rain.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 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

When Beaver came to, Nanabozho examined his paws and mouth to see if there was any dirt, but he couldn’t find anything.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich

By the time the beavers were trapped and their dams dismantled, a few dozen acres of trees were dead and too dangerous to remove.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Flooding two years ago during Hurricane Helene swept beavers inland from the Ogeechee River.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

One way of achieving this aim is to encourage the return of beavers.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

And in its forests and on its grasslands, tule elk and mule deer graze, while bobcats and coyotes hunt for rabbits and mountain beavers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Asked to describe and classify mammals, he scribbled down an incomplete and absurd system of taxonomy—omitting categories, inventing others, lumping kangaroos with beavers, and pigs with elephants.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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

"I cut forty-nine, and the boss," he added dryly, not realizing that Roosevelt was within hearing—"the boss he beavered down seventeen."

From Roosevelt in the Bad Lands by Hermann Hagedorn

I didn’t set out to leverage AI, beavering away in the background while I sleep, to set my priorities every morning, and even help me regulate my physical and mental health.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

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

Thank'ee, Hurry; thank'ee, with all my heart—but I do a little beavering for myself as occasions offer.

From The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper