beak

Meanings

Noun

• Anatomical uses.
• Figurative uses.
• Colloquial uses.
• A justice of the peace; a magistrate.
• A schoolmaster (originally, at Eton).

Verb

• Strike with the beak.
• Seize with the beak.
• To play truant.

Related

Similar words

• bill
• honker, schnozzle

Origin

• From Middle English bec, borrowed from Anglo-Norman bec, from Latin beccus, from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos ("beak, snout"), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ-. Cognate with Breton beg ("beak"). Compare Saterland Frisian Bäk ("mouth; muzzle; beak"); Dutch bek.
• Unknown; originally cant; first recorded in 17thC; probably related to obsolete cant beck "constable".