moustache

[muhs-tash, muh-stash]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR moustache ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

mustache.

Related formsmous·tached, adjective

mustache

or mous·tache

[muhs-tash, muh-stash]

noun

the hair growing on the upper lip

such hair on men, allowed to grow without shaving, and often trimmed in any of various shapes.

hairs or bristles growing near the mouth of an animal.

a stripe of color, or elongated feathers, suggestive of a mustache on the side of the head of a bird.

something resembling a mustache, as food or drink adhering to the upper lip: a mustache of milk.

Origin of mustache

1575–85; < Middle French moustache < Italian mostaccio; see mustachio

Related formsmus·tached, adjective

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

Related Words for moustache

wig, hairstyle, grass, fur, haircut, fiber, wool, strand, eyebrow, mane, shock, lock, tress, down, cut, tuft, bristle, filament, beard, mop

Examples from the Web for moustache

Contemporary Examples of moustache

He took a tremendous drink from his cup, the froth sticking to his moustache.
The Fourth War: My Lunch with a Jihadi
Elliot Ackerman
January 21, 2014
William Howard Taft; 2, Thomas Dewey (1944 and 48, moustache) and Charles Evans Hughes (1916, beard).
Will We Ever Have a Hirsute President Again?
Michael Tomasky
January 22, 2013
Some friends and I were discussing whether we'll ever again have a president with a moustache or beard .
Will We Ever Have a Hirsute President Again?
Michael Tomasky
January 22, 2013
From him until this person who left in 1913, every president except two had either a beard or a moustache.
Will We Ever Have a Hirsute President Again?
Michael Tomasky
January 22, 2013
But when Pam makes a joke about his moustache, nobody can seem to remember whether Stanley actually has a moustache.
9 Funniest Moments From Season 1-8 of ‘The Office’ (VIDEO)
Mike Munoz
September 20, 2012

Historical Examples of moustache

"Till the Bourbons return," said another Carlist, playing with his moustache.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Duncan removed one hand from the pocket the better to tug at his moustache.
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
Duquesnel did not utter a word, but he pulled his moustache to hide a smile.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
Nobody ever saw much more of the Major than his nose and his moustache.
Henry Dunbar
M. E. Braddon
Sydney Barnes smiled, and left off nervously tugging at his moustache.
The Avenger
E. Phillips Oppenheim

British Dictionary definitions for moustache

moustache

US mustache

noun

the unshaved growth of hair on the upper lip, and sometimes down the sides of the mouth

a similar growth of hair or bristles (in animals) or feathers (in birds)

a mark like a moustache

Derived Formsmoustached or US mustached, adjective

Word Origin for moustache

C16: via French from Italian mostaccio, ultimately from Doric Greek mustax upper lip

mustache

noun

the US spelling of moustache

Derived Formsmustached, adjective

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 moustache

see mustache. Related: moustachial.

mustache

1580s, from French moustache (15c.), from Italian mostaccio, from Medieval Greek moustakion, diminutive of Doric mystax (genitive mystakos) "upper lip, mustache," related to mastax "jaws, mouth," literally "that with which one chews," from PIE root *mendh- "to chew" (see mandible).

Borrowed earlier (1550s) as mostacchi, from the Italian word or its Spanish derivative mostacho. The plural form of this, mustachios, lingers in English. Dutch slang has a useful noun, de befborstel, to refer to the mustache specifically as a tool for stimulating the clitoris; probably from beffen "to stimulate the clitoris with the tongue."