white-beardedadj.
/ˌwʌɪtˈbɪədᵻd/, U.S. /ˌ(h)waɪtˈbɪ(ə)rdᵻd/ 1.
a. Of a man: having a white beard; (hence) elderly, old.
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the world > life > the body > hair > hair on lower part of face > [adjective] > beard > types of > having
long-beardedc1400
red-bearded1552
white-bearded1555
whey-bearded1556
grey-bearded1562
black-bearded1577
barbatulousc1600
bush-bearded1615
big-bearded1620
sand-beardeda1641
goateed1847
brown-bearded1882
peach fuzz1932
peach-fuzzed1956
1555 R. Eden Disc. Vyages Butrigarius & Cabote in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 257 That owlde whyte bearded man whom this Emperour of the Ruthians sente for his ambassadoure.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. v. 468 Falstalffe, that olde white bearded Sathan.
1658 T. Pugh Brittish & Out-landish Prophesies 145 Wee..shall have an aged and white bearded Conquerour that shall bear rule over Jack and John.
1720 W. R. Chetwood Voy. Capt. R. Falconer i. 52 This Province..was first Inhabited, and Cultivated by a White-Bearded People.
1789 Town & Country Mag. Apr. 176/1 The host was borne before him by an old white-bearded man of a most venerable aspect.
1849 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 180/1 It was wrong, undoubtedly, in Seffora to love any other than her old, rugose-faced, white-bearded husband.
1884 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Mar. 398/1 The white-bearded elder came and bathed his brow with the soft sponge.
1914 D. H. Lawrence Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd iii. 81 A little stout, white-bearded man.
1995 V. Chandra Red Earth & Pouring Rain (1996) 423 Two men, both white-bearded, leaned back against round pillows.
b. figurative.
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1625 Pleasant Countrey New Ditty (single sheet) White-bearded Frost, Hath threatned his worst.
1668 F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue II. xxiv. 215 The Winters white-bearded cold.
1828 M. Banim Croppy I. vi. 123 The season when white-bearded Winter lords it over the infant Year.
1858 ‘G. Eliot’ Scenes Clerical Life I. iii. 56 The moon is shedding its cold light on the cold snow, and the white-bearded fir-trees..are casting a blue shadow across the white ground.
1920 E. Sitwell Wooden Pegasus 100 And, mourners too, white-bearded seas Walk slowly by them as they come.
1990 D. McFarland Music Room 67 I notice that one white-bearded testicle hangs out below the hem of his trunks.
2.
a. Of a plant or plant part: bearing white bristles or hairs; spec. (of wheat) having a prominent white awn. Cf. beard n. 4a.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [adjective] > of or containing wheat > of, belonging to, or resembling wheat plant > of particular types
pollard?1523
white-bearded1607
red-bearded1634
buckwheat1774
speltoid1920
1607 T. Dekker Whore of Babylon sig. E4 As white bearded corne Bowes his proud head before th'imperiall windes.
1670 J. Ray Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ 307 Red Wheat, with a white bearded ear.
1788 G. Washington Diary 8 Sept. (1925) III. 417 Also sowing..one bushel of the White bearded Wheat sent me by Beale Boardly.
1850 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1849: Agric. 132 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (31st Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 20, Pt. 2) VI The white-bearded wheat, a valuable kind less liable to total failure than any other; not very popular with millers.
1924 L. H. Bailey Man. Cultivated Plants 642 T[hymus] Serpyllum... Calyx hirsute, the throat densely white-bearded.
2008 Systematic Bot. 33 274/1 The distal internodes [of Paspalum spissum] up to ca. 15 cm long; nodes generally white-bearded.
b. Of an animal: having white hairs or feathers below the mouth or at the throat. Frequently in names of birds and mammals.
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1822 tr. C. Malte-Brun Universal Geogr. III. xlix. 223 Monkeys swarm as they do in Indostan, and among others the white-bearded and the black-bearded species.
1902 Emu 2 24 A nest of the White-bearded Honey-eater (Meliornis novae-hollandiae) was taken in a briar bush close to a public road.
1930 W. M. Mann Wild Animals in & out of Zoo xv. 189 The white-bearded gnu abounds throughout most of Tanganyika.
2010 T. S. Schulenberg et al. Birds of Peru (rev. ed.) 216 White-bearded Hermit Phaethornis hispidus.
Compounds
white-bearded manakin n. a Central and South American manakin, Manacus manacus, which has predominantly white plumage with a black cap, back, and wings, and orange legs.
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1849 I. E. Warren in Bentley's Misc. 26 366 Numbers of red-crowned and white-bearded manakins flew across our path.
1968 F. Haverschmidt Birds Surinam 293 White-bearded Manakin... Upper head black; throat white forming a beard.
2004 Guardian 22 Nov. i. 22/2 We saw..many other forest birds, including tanagers, a tiny woodpecker-like piculet, and the white-bearded manakin.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1555