Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Beard \Beard\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Bearded}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Bearding}.]
   1. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard
      of (a man), in anger or contempt.

   2. To oppose to the gills; to set at defiance.

            No admiral, bearded by three corrupt and dissolute
            minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter
            something about a court martial.      --Macaulay.

   3. To deprive of the gills; -- used only of oysters and
      similar shellfish.

Beard \Beard\, n. [OE. berd, AS. beard; akin to Fries. berd, D.
   baard, G. bart, Lith. barzda, OSlav. brada, Pol. broda, Russ.
   boroda, L. barba, W. barf. Cf. 1st {Barb}.]
   1. The hair that grows on the chin, lips, and adjacent parts
      of the human face, chiefly of male adults.

   2. (Zo["o]l.)
      (a) The long hairs about the face in animals, as in the
          goat.
      (b) The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak
          in some birds
      (c) The appendages to the jaw in some Cetacea, and to the
          mouth or jaws of some fishes.
      (d) The byssus of certain shellfish, as the muscle.
      (e) The gills of some bivalves, as the oyster.
      (f) In insects, the hairs of the labial palpi of moths and
          butterflies.

   3. (Bot.) Long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn; as, the
      beard of grain.

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

   5. That part of the under side of a horse's lower jaw which
      is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle.

   6. (Print.) That part of a type which is between the shoulder
      of the shank and the face.

   7. An imposition; a trick. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

   {Beard grass} (Bot.), a coarse, perennial grass of different
      species of the genus {Andropogon}.

   {To one's beard}, to one's face; in open defiance.

Source : WordNet®

beard
     n 1: the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face [syn: {face
          fungus}, {whiskers}]
     2: a tuft or growth of hairs or bristles on certain plants such
        as iris or grasses
     3: a person who diverts suspicion from someone (especially a
        woman who accompanies a male homosexual in order to
        conceal his homosexuality)
     4: hairy growth on or near the face of certain mammals
     5: tuft of strong filaments by which e.g. a mussel makes itself
        fast to a fixed surface [syn: {byssus}]

beard
     v : go along the rim, like a beard around the chin; "Houses
         bearded the top of the heights"