beak

English

Etymology

Middle English bec, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin beccus, from Gaulish beccos 'chicken beak', literally 'small' (compare Irish beag 'little', Welsh bach, bychan Breton bac'h, bihan and beg 'beak').

Pronunciation

Wikipedia

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːk

Noun

beak (plural beaks)

1. A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming and for eating food.
2. A similar structure forming the jaws of an octopus.
3. (nautical) The metal point fixed on the bows of a war galley, used as a ram.
4. (slang) A justice of the peace, magistrate, headmaster or other person of authority.

   He's up before the beak again tomorrow.

   I clapp'd my peepers full of tears, and so the old beak set me free; I began to weep, and the judge set me free.

5. (slang) The human nose, especially one that is large and pointed.

Synonyms

• (rigid structure projecting from a bird's face): bill
• (human nose): schnozzle

Translations

structure projecting from a bird's face

Albanian: sqep m., çukë f. Arabic: منقار (ar) (minqār) m. Armenian: կտուց (ktuc') Azeri: dimdik (az) Basque: moko Belarusian: дзюба (be) (dzjúba) f. Bosnian: kljun (bs) m. Bulgarian: клюн (bg) (kljun) m., човка (bg) (čovka) f. Catalan: bec m. Chinese: Mandarin: 鳥嘴 (cmn), 鸟嘴 (cmn) (niǎozuǐ), 嘴 (cmn) (zuǐ), 喙 (cmn) (huì) Crimean Tatar: ğağa Croatian: kljun (hr) m. Czech: zobák (cs) m. Danish: næb (da) Dutch: snavel (nl), bek (nl) Esperanto: beko (eo) Finnish: nokka (fi) French: bec (fr) m. Georgian: ნისკარტი (ka) (niskarti) German: Schnabel (de) m. Greek: ράμφος (el) (rámfos) n. Hindi: चोंच (ćo.nć) Hungarian: csőr (hu) Irish: gob (ga) m. Italian: becco (it) m. Japanese: 嘴 (ja) (くちばし, kuchibashi)

Korean: 부리 (ko) (buri) Kurdish: ده‌ندوک Latgalian: gnēze Latvian: knābis (lv) Lithuanian: snapas (lt) Low German: Snavel (nds) m. Plauttdietsch (Mennonite Low German) Schnovel, Schnowel (nds) m. Luxembourgish: Schniewel (lb) m. Macedonian: клун (mk) (klun) m. Marathi: चोच (ćoć) Norwegian: nebb (no) Polish: dziób (pl) Portuguese: bico (pt) m. Romanian: cioc f. and m. Russian: клюв (ru) (kljuv) m. Scottish Gaelic: gob (gd) m. Serbian: Cyrillic: кљун m. Latin: kljun m. Slovak: zobák (sk) m. Slovene: kljun (sl) m. Spanish: pico (es) m. Swedish: näbb (sv) c. Turkish: gaga (tr) Ukrainian: дзьоб (uk) (dz′ob) m. Volapük: honed (vo), bödahoned (vo) Walloon: betch (wa) West Frisian: snaffel

similar structure in an octopus

Dutch: bek (nl) French: bec (fr) m. German: Schnabel (de) m.

Greek: ράμφος (el) (rámfos) n. Korean: 주둥이 (ko) (judungi) Russian: клюв (ru) m.

metal point fixed on the bows of a war galley, used as a ram

French: éperon (fr) m.

Greek: έμβολο (el) (émvolo) n.

slang: magistrate

Russian: (мировой) судья m.

slang: human nose — see schnozzle

Verb

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

1. (transitive) strike with the beak.
2. (transitive) seize with the beak.

See also

• Wikipedia article on beaks

Anagrams

• bake