Forms: 3–6 bec, 4–5 bek, beke, 4–6 beeke, 6 becke (pl. bex), 6–7 beake, 7 beack, 7–8 beck, 7– beak. [a. F. bec (= It. becco, Pr. bec, Sp., Pg. bico:—late L. beccus), of Gaulish origin. Suetonius says (Vitell. 18) that Antonius Primus, who was born at Toulouse, had as a boy the nickname of Beccus, ‘id valet, gallinacei rostrum.’ According to Thurneysen, probably related to the Celtic stem bacc- ‘hook’; but the mod. Celtic words, Irish bec, Breton bek, beg, are ‘certainly borrowed’ from Eng. and Fr. The original short vowel of Fr. bec, ME. bec, bek, was still retained in beck in the 18th c., but the form beek, beak, with lengthened vowel, occurred in the plural at least, where it evidently originated (bek-es being made into be-kes, bē-kes, beekes, beaks; cf. staff, staves) as early as 1400.]
I. Original and allied senses.
1. The horny termination of the jaws of a bird, consisting of two pointed mandibles adapted for piercing and for taking firm hold; a bird’s bill.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 58, in O. E. Misc., 3. Siðen his bec is al to-wrong.
1399. Pol. Poems (1859), I. 395. But the nedy nestlingis … burnisched her beekis, and bent to himwardis.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, A vj b. Ye shall say this hauke has a large beke or a shortt beke, and call it not bille.
c. 1532. Ld. Berners, Huon, cxxi. 432. The Gryffon … was redy to dystroye hym with his becke and naylys.
a. 1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 89. If peacook and turkey leaue iobbing their bex.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. iv. 118. His Royall Bird Prunes the immortall wing, and cloyes his Beake.
1713. C’tess Winchilsea, Misc. Poems, 107. With Vultur’s Becks, And Shoulders higher than their Necks.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. vii. (1838), 187. The Eagle … to attain his new beak, must harshly dash off the old one upon rocks.
b. Birds of a beak (cf. ‘birds of a feather’; see A adj.2 3).
1607. Dekker, Knt.’s Conjur. (1842), 28. Cut vp one cut vp all; they were birdes all of a beake.
2. The extremities, often horny in structure, of the mandibles of other animals; e.g., the turtle, ornithorhynchus, octopus, etc.
1822. Burrowes, Cycl., s.v. Sepia. Their beak is like that of a parrot.
1840. Penny Cycl., s.v. Ornithorhynchus, The edge of the osseous beak.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 485. Tortoises … [have] the mouth destitute of teeth, but furnished with a horny beak.
1877. Symonds, Renaiss. Italy, vi. 317. An octopus which … shoots its beak into a vital spot.
† 3. The snout or muzzle of quadrupeds. Obs.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 85. [The Elephant’s] becke is holpen with that snowt that helpeth him euen as our hand doth.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 231. The beak or snowt of a Horse, ought not to stand out like a Swines.
4. The elongated head, proboscis, or sucker mouth of certain insects; e.g., the weevil, cochineal.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1086. The Weevil … is formed like a small Beetle, it hath a beck proper to it self.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 720. The young larvæ [of the Cochineal] … affix themselves by their sucking-beak.
1866. Rye, Brit. Beetles, xvii. 174. The Rhynchophora … have the head elongated in front into a rostrum or beak.
5. humorously. The human nose.
[1598. Florio, Naso adunco, a beake-nose.]
1854. Thackeray, Newcomes, I. 296. The well-known hooked beak of the old Countess.
1865. Ellen C. Clayton, Cruel Fortune, I. 143. A large, fat, greasy female, with a prominent beak.
II. Transferred and technical senses.
6. A beak-shaped point or projection; a peak.
c. 1440. Partonope, 2100. Wyth the beke yet of his gleve.
1483. in Planché, Brit. Costume (1834), 212. Two hats of estate … with the round rolls behind and the beeks before.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 109 b (J.). Cuddenbeak … from a well aduaunced Promontory, which intituled it Beak.
1720. Stow’s Surv. (Strype, 1754), I. III. viii. 691/2. It was ordained … that Beaks of Shin [= shoes] and Boots should not pass the length of two inches.
1855. trans. Labarte’s Arts Mid. Ages, iv. 106. A goose-quill cut to a point … but with a longer beak.
7. The pointed and ornamented projection at the prow of ancient vessels, esp. of war galleys, where it was used in piercing and disabling the enemy’s vessels; now = BEAK-HEAD.
1550. Nicolls, Thucyd., 183 (R.). Seuene of theym frusshedde and brused in their foore partes with the beckes of the Corynthyans.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 197. Now on the Beake, Now in the Waste, the Decke, in every Cabyn, I flam’d amazement.
1738. Glover, Leonidas, I. 63. Xerxes’ navy with their hostile beaks.
1850. Blackie, Æschylus, I. 43. Ship on ship Struck clashing; beak on butting beak was driven.
8. a. In the shells of some univalves: A narrow prolongation of the shell beyond the aperture in the axial line, containing the ‘canal.’
b. In those of some bivalves: The projecting apex of each valve, situated directly above the hinge; also called umbo.
1851. Richardson, Palæont., viii. 240. The canal is the elongation of the aperture, in both lips of those shells which have a beak.
1854. Woodward, Mollusca, II. 245. The valves of the Conchifera are bound together by an elastic ligament…. The apex is termed the beak, or umbo.
9. Bot. A sharp projecting process, or prolonged tip, as in the seeds of Crane’s-bill, etc.
[1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 45. Whose seedes be long and sharpe like to a Hearons beake or byl.]
1820. Galpine, Brit. Bot., 67. Siliques linear, smooth, with short beaks.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 75. Ovary … produced upwards into a styliferous beak.
10. The taper tube of a retort, still, etc.; a spout.
1641. French, Distill., v. (1651), 146. Take a Caldron with a … high cover having a beake or nose.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xx. 542. When the beak of a retort is dipped into such mercury.
† 11. pl. A pair of pincers, a forceps. Obs.
1656. Ridgley, Pract. Physic, 172. The bone must be cut away either with Beaks or Rasps. Ibid., 357. It is taken out with the Fingers, or Bekes, with or without cutting.
12. technically in mechanical arts: a. in Printing (see quot.). b. in Forging (see BEAK-IRON). c. in Carpentry, the crooked end of the holdfast of a carpenter’s bench. d. in Gas-fitting, a gas-burner with a circular hole 1/28 of an inch in diameter. e. in Organ-building.
1676. Moxon, Print Lett., 21. The Projecture or Beak of the Stem. Ibid., 18. The Beak projects 1 stem on the left hand.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 182. The beak or point of his anvil.
1852. Seidel, Organ, 82. The mouth-piece … consists of the block, the beak, the tongue, the spring, the reed.
13. Farriery, ‘A little horse-shoe, turned up, and fastened in upon the forepart of the hoof. Its use is to keep the shoes fast.’ Chambers, Cycl. Supp.
14. Arch. ‘A little pendent fillet left on the edge of the larmier, forming a canal behind to prevent the water from running down the lower bed of the cornice.’ Gwilt.
1734. in Builder’s Dict.
III. Comb., chiefly attrib., as beak-nose (see 5), beak-rush, -sedge (see quot.); also the adjs. beak-bearing, -like, -shaped. See also BEAK-HEAD, -IRON.
1830. Withering, Bot. Arrangem. (ed. 7), II. 109. White Beak-rush; Rhynchospora alba … [found in] turfy bogs and marshes.
1839–47. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., III. 251/2. The beak-bearing mouth of the adult. Ibid. (1849–52), IV. 878/2. The dense covering of the beak-like jaws of the Parrot-fishes.
1851. Richardson, Geol., viii. 232. The dorsal valve is the largest, and … develops a beak-shaped process.
