Beard

Beard - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

The mode of wearing it was definitely prescribed to the Jews (Lev. 19:27; 21:5). Hence the import of Ezekiel's (5:1-4) description of the "razor" i.e., the agents of an angry providence being used against the guilty nation of the Jews. It was a part of a Jew's daily toilet to anoint his beard with oil and perfume (Ps. 133:2). Beards were trimmed with the most fastidious care (2 Sam. 19:24), and their neglet was an indication of deep sorrow (Isa. 15:2; Jer. 41:5). The custom was to shave or pluck off the hair as a sign of mourning (Isa. 50:6; Jer. 48:37; Ezra 9:3). The beards of David's ambassadors were cut off by hanun (2 Sam. 10:4) as a mark of indignity.

On the other hand, the Egyptians carefully shaved the hair off their faces, and they compelled their slaves to do so also (Gen. 41:14).

Beard - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

BEARD, n. berd. [L.barba.]

1. The hair that grows on the chin,lips and adjacent parts of the face,chiefly of male adults; hence a mark of virility. A gray beard, long beard and reverend beard, are terms for old age.

2. Beard is sometimes used for the face, and to do a thing to a man's beard,is to do it in defiance, or to his face.

3. The awn or sharp prickles on the ears of corn. But more technically, parallel hairs or a tuft of stiff hairs terminating the leaves of plants, a species of pubescence. By some authors the name is given to the lower lip of a ringent corol.

4. A barb or sharp point of an arrow, or other instrument, bent backward from the end to prevent its being easily drawn out.

5. The beard or chuck of a horse, is that part which bears the curb of a bridle,underneath the lower mandible and above the chin.

6. The rays of a comet, emitted towards that part of the heaven to which its proper motion seems to direct it.

7. The threads or hairs of an oyster, muscle or similar shell-fish, by which they fasten themselves to stones.

8. In insects, two small, oblong, fleshy bodies, placed just above the trunk, as in gnats, moths and butterflies.

BEARD, v.t. berd. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard, in contempt or anger.

1. To oppose to the face; to set at defiance.

I have been bearded by boys.