Definition: Beak

Etymology

From Middle English bec, borrowed from Anglo-Norman bec, Old French bec, from Latin beccus, from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos (beak, snout), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (pointed stick, peg). Cognate with Breton beg (beak). Compare Saterland Frisian Bäk (mouth, muzzle, beak), Dutch bek (beak, bill, neb).

Noun

beak (plural beaks)

1. (anatomy)
   1. A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc.
   2. A similar pointed structure forming the nose and mouth of various animals, such as turtles, platypuses, whales, etc.
   3. The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera.
   4. The upper or projecting part of the shell, near the hinge of a bivalve.
   5. The prolongation of certain univalve shells containing the canal.
   6. (botany) Any process somewhat like the beak of a bird, terminating the fruit or other parts of a plant.
2. Anything projecting or ending in a point like a beak, such as a promontory of land.
3. (architecture) A continuous slight projection ending in an arris or narrow fillet; that part of a drip from which the water is thrown off.
4. (farriery) A toe clip.
5. (nautical) That part of a ship, before the forecastle, which is fastened to the stem, and supported by the main knee.
6. (nautical) A beam, shod or armed at the end with a metal head or point, and projecting from the prow of an ancient galley, used as a ram to pierce the vessel of an enemy; a beakhead.
7. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Libythea, notable for the beak-like elongation on their heads.

Derived terms

• beakfish
• beakhead
• grosbeak
• hornbeak
• longbeak

Verb

beak (third-person singular simple present beaks, present participle beaking, simple past and past participle beaked)

1. To strike with the beak.
2. To seize with the beak.

Credits

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