beard

noun

• 1a growth of hair on the chin and lower cheeks of a man’s face: he had a black beard [mass noun]:three days' growth of beard
• a tuft of hair on the chin of certain mammals, for example a lion or goat.
• an animal’s growth or marking that is likened to a beard, for example the gills of an oyster, or the beak bristles of certain birds.
• a tuft of hairs or bristles on certain plants, especially the awn of a grass.

• 2US informal a person who carries out a transaction, typically a bet, for someone else in order to conceal the other’s identity: the beard permitted the manipulator to protect the odds

• 3North American informal a woman who accompanies a homosexual man as an escort to a social occasion, in order to help conceal his homosexuality: the closeted male and his female ‘beard’

verb

• boldly confront or challenge (someone formidable): he was afraid to beard the sultan himself