Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Bearding"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
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