beak

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The horny, projecting structure forming the mandibles of a bird, especially one that is strong, sharp, and useful in striking and tearing; a bill.
2. n. A similar structure in other animals, such as turtles, insects, or fish.
3. n. A usually firm, tapering tip on certain plant structures, such as some seeds and fruits.
4. n. A beaklike structure or part, as:
5. n. The spout of a pitcher.
6. n. A metal or metal-clad ram projecting from the bow of an ancient warship.
7. n. Informal The human nose.
8. n. Chiefly British Slang A schoolmaster.
9. n. Chiefly British Slang A judge.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In zoology, the rostrum, snout, muzzle, jaws, mandibles, or some similar part of an animal. Especially— In ornithology, the horny bill or neb of a bird.
2. n. Anything ending in a point like a beak. Nautical, a powerful construction of metal, as steel, iron, or brass, or of timber sheathed with metal, forming a part of the bow of many war-ships, and extending below the water-line, for the purpose of striking and breaking in the sides of an enemy’s ship. Also called ram (which see). For a cut of the beak of an ancient wargalley, see acrostolium.
3. n. A gas-burner having a round smooth hole of an inch in diameter; a bird's-mouth.
4. n. A beak-iron (which see).
5. In cock-fighting, to seize or strike with the beak.
6. n. A magistrate; a judge; a policeman.
7. n. In the shells of the Brachiopoda (Molluscoidea) and Pelecypoda (Mollusca), the projecting, usually arched, part of the valves; the initial part of the shell about which accretions by growth have been added unequally. Beaks in the two valves of the Brachiopoda are usually of unequal size and prominence, but in the Pelecypoda, they are generally alike. Often termed umbo.
8. n. Specifically, the mouthpiece of instruments like the clarinet and some varieties of flageolets or direct flutes.
9. To ram (a ship) with the beak or prow so as to penetrate the hull in an endeavor to sink it.

Wiktionary

1. n. A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming and for eating food.
2. n. A similar structure forming the jaws of an octopus.
3. n. nautical The metal point fixed on the bows of a war galley, used as a ram.
4. n. slang A justice of the peace, magistrate, headmaster or other person of authority.
5. n. slang The human nose, especially one that is large and pointed.
6. v. transitive strike with the beak.
7. v. transitive seize with the beak.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The bill or nib of a bird, consisting of a horny sheath, covering the jaws. The form varies much according to the food and habits of the bird, and is largely used in the classification of birds.
2. n. A similar bill in other animals, as the turtles.
3. n. The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects, and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera.
4. n. The upper or projecting part of the shell, near the hinge of a bivalve.
5. n. The prolongation of certain univalve shells containing the canal.
6. n. Anything projecting or ending in a point, like a beak, as a promontory of land.
7. n. (Antiq.) A beam, shod or armed at the end with a metal head or point, and projecting from the prow of an ancient galley, in order to pierce the vessel of an enemy; a beakhead.
8. n. (Naut.) That part of a ship, before the forecastle, which is fastened to the stem, and supported by the main knee.
9. n. (Arch.) A continuous slight projection ending in an arris or narrow fillet; that part of a drip from which the water is thrown off.
10. n. (Bot.) Any process somewhat like the beak of a bird, terminating the fruit or other parts of a plant.
11. n. (Far.) A toe clip. See Clip, n. (Far.).
12. n. Slang, Eng. A magistrate or policeman.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. informal terms for the nose
2. n. horny projecting mouth of a bird
3. n. a beaklike, tapering tip on certain plant structures
4. n. beaklike mouth of animals other than birds (e.g., turtles)
5. v. hit lightly with a picking motion