mustache

American  

[muhs-tash, muh-stash] / ˈmʌs tæʃ, məˈstæʃ /

Or moustache

noun

1. the hair growing on the upper lip

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

3. hairs or bristles growing near the mouth of an animal.

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

5. something resembling a mustache, as food or drink adhering to the upper lip.

   a mustache of milk.

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mustache British  

/ məˈstɑːʃ /

noun

1. the US spelling of moustache

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Other Word Forms

• mustached adjective

Etymology

Origin of mustache

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

Example Sentences

He watches the door for a second, then takes out a Sharpie and draws a handlebar mustache on his reflection in the mirror.

From Literature

Meanwhile, one end of the observation car had been filled by several women in white bonnets, joined by men with straw hats, footlong beards and no mustaches.

From Los Angeles Times

They go out of their way to compliment my perfectly arched eyebrows, but they completely ignore the mustache that I’m starting to grow.

From Literature

Cassiopeia made a soapy mustache of her own hair and Penelope’s, and then blew through the strands until soap bubbles floated lazily through the air.

From Literature

Yet we don’t feel the paranoia of eyeballs over the streets, even though it turns out that there’s no way to disguise Powell’s foxlike features under a silly stick-on mustache.

From Los Angeles Times