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• beard
  beard

  noun

  a thick growth of hair on the face, especially on an adult man, often including a mustache.
• Beard
  Beard

  noun

  Charles Austin, 1874–1948, and his wife Mary, 1876–1958, U.S. historians.

beard

¹ American  

[beerd] / bɪərd /

noun

• beards
  plural

1. a thick growth of hair on the face, especially on an adult man, often including a mustache.

   He's been growing out his beard for a couple of months, and it's filling in nicely.

2. Zoology. a tuft, growth, or part resembling or suggesting the thick growth of hair on the human face, such as the tuft of long hairs on the lower jaw of a goat or the cluster of hairlike feathers at the base of the bill in certain birds.

3. Botany. a tuft or growth of awns or the like, as on wheat or barley.

4. a barb or catch on an arrow, fishhook, knitting needle, crochet needle, etc.

5. Also called bevel neck.  Printing.

   1. the sloping part of a type that connects the face with the shoulder of the body.

   2. British. the space on a type between the bottom of the face of an x-high character and the edge of the body, comprising both beard and shoulder.

   3. the cross stroke on the stem of a capital G.

6. Slang. a romantic partner chosen to conceal a person's sexual orientation, especially that of a gay or lesbian person.

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verb (used with object)

• beards,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bearded,
  past participle,  past
• bearding
  present participle

1. to oppose boldly; defy.

   It took courage for the mayor to beard the pressure groups.

   Synonyms:

   face, dare, brave, confront

   Antonyms:

   dodge, avoid

2. to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of.

   The hoodlums bearded the old man.

3. to supply with a beard.

verb (used without object)

• beards,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bearded,
  past participle,  past
• bearding
  present participle

1. Slang. to act as a romantic partner to someone in order to conceal their sexual orientation, especially that of a gay or lesbian person.

Beard ² American  

[beerd] / bɪərd /

noun

1. Charles Austin, 1874–1948, and his wife Mary, 1876–1958, U.S. historians.

2. Daniel Carter, 1850–1941, U.S. artist and naturalist: organized the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.

3. James Andrew, 1903–85, U.S. cooking teacher and food writer.

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beard British  

/ bɪəd /

noun

1. the hair growing on the lower parts of a man's face

2. any similar growth in animals

3. a tuft of long hairs in plants such as barley and wheat; awn

4. the gills of an oyster

5. a barb, as on an arrow or fish-hook

6. slang a woman who accompanies a homosexual man to give the impression that he is heterosexual

7. printing the part of a piece of type that connects the face with the shoulder

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verb

1. to oppose boldly or impertinently

2. to pull or grasp the beard of

beard Scientific  

/ bîrd /

1. A tuft or group of hairs or bristles on certain plants, such as barley and wheat. The individual strands of a beard are attached to a sepal or petal.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unbeard
  verb (used with object)
• bearded
  adjective
• beardlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• beards
  plural

Participles

• bearding
  present
• bearded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• beard
  simple
• beards
  simple
• have bearded
  perfect
• has bearded
  perfect
• am bearding
  progressive
• are bearding
  progressive
• is bearding
  progressive
• have been bearding
  perfect progressive
• has been bearding
  perfect progressive

Past

• bearded
  simple
• had bearded
  perfect
• was bearding
  progressive
• were bearding
  progressive
• had been bearding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will beard
  simple
• will have bearded
  perfect
• will be bearding
  progressive
• will have been bearding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of beard

First recorded before 900; Middle English berd, Old English beard; cognate with Dutch baard, German Bart, Late Latin Langobardi “Long-beards (name of the Lombards),” Crimean Gothic bars; akin to Latin barba, Lithuanian barzdà, Old Church Slavonic brada, Russian borodá

Explanation

A beard is the facial hair on a person's chin and cheeks. Santa Claus is famous in part for his long, white beard. You're most likely to see a beard on an adult man, although some women grow enough facial hair to sport a beard too. Some animals, like goats, have beards as well. Someone whose presence helps another person disguise his identity — maybe because he's a spy — is often informally called a beard as well.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beard Beard beards bearded bearding

There was another dose of theatre when WBA 'Super' welterweight world champion Teofimo Lopez, disguised with a fake beard, stood among the crowd to ask a question before revealing himself to loud cheers.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

He had long maintained a clean-shaven appearance, but started growing out his beard in detention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

The first driver is described as white with a short dark beard and he was wearing a beanie hat, while the second is believed to have been wearing a cap.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

The 19-year-old, sporting a budding beard, usually operates from home, filling lulls by watching the TV show Criminal Minds or honing his drone-flying skills on a simulator.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

“What we need, Nell—er, Penelope—is a confession,” Mr. Pinkerton declared, running a hand through his wild brown beard.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

Belinda Chang, a James Beard Award-winning sommelier in Chicago, said she has been approached by business school students and financial executives to lead workshops on how to navigate wine lists in corporate settings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

ZZ Top was founded in 1969 and the trio - Beard, Billy Gibbons and the late Dusty Hill - played their first live concert the following year.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

Beard, whose beats carried hits like "La Grange" and "Sharp Dressed Man," had stepped back from touring last year after suffering unspecified health issues.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

ZZ Top is mourning the loss of longtime drummer Frank Beard, who has died at age 77 after years of facing health-related issues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Square Glasses seemed okay, and Blond Beard was neutral, still focused on his phone.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

The few hundred in attendance spanned the full spectrum of AfD voters: young men in black bomber jackets and Lonsdale sweaters, elderly couples, barefooted hippies with braided beards.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

I wasn’t surprised to learn the two men were close friends; they even look alike, with their long white beards and sparkling eyes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

In the frosty air, with their starchy beards and extravagant ear tufts, they looked magisterial.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

“A lot of wigs, costumes, beards — fake beards,” David said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2026

Anya had a hard time telling the eldest twins apart now that they had grown identical beards.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

Posted Wednesday to the official X account for DHS, the image created by artificial intelligence depicted the “Transformers” character opposite a bearded man wearing a bandanna over his hair.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Hidden in the basement of a supermarket, the thick smell of sweat hangs heavy in the air as she pushes weights alongside bearded muscle-men.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

Other entrants include a trans woman named Ashley Webb and a gloriously bearded Marine vet.

From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026

In his book, Blankfein noted that facial hair was “very popular” at Goldman Sachs during famously bearded Jon Corzine’s reign as CEO from 1994 to 1999.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

On the way to la marketa we had passed two men dressed in long black coats, their faces bearded.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Some say this bearding trend began with the 1980s television series “Miami Vice,” wherein the actor Don Johnson sported a 5-o’clock shadow that was much commented on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

There’s talk of bearding dragons in their den and of forthcoming battles, plus a rather lovely foray into a deep cave system.

From The Guardian ● May 11, 2016

One can only imagine what Mr. Beale might have done with the character if the script had been more daring in bearding Stalin in his innermost lair.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2012

Through a popular book and a starring role on IFC’s “Whisker Wars,” a seven-episode documentary series, Jack Passion, 28, has become the bushy face of the bearding game.

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2011

The grey moss grew thickly here, covering the fallen stones in great mounds and bearding all the towers.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin