beak n.2
1. the nose; thus beaked adj., describing the nose.
| [ | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Worlde of Wordes n.p.: Naso adunco, a beake-nose]. |
| Aesop II i: Here he comes with his Uggly Beak before him. | |
| Sporting Mag. Jan. XXIII 228/1: Hauld up thy beak, and gi’ us a buss. | |
| Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 200: Spring stopp’d him again, hit him over the beak. | |
| Flash Mirror 4: The Bug Walk [...] This house is a pannum supply [...] if any gemman of an high order thinks fit to put his beak in, he can get a feeder of slap up peck for a kick. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | N.Y. Clipper 18 Mar. 3/4: On shaking daddlesmuch manoeuvring was displayed for the first snorter, otherwise, a lick over the beak. | |
| Newcomes I 296: The well-known hooked beak of the old Countess of Kew. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 5 Sept. 2/6: Tom receving on the brain pan and the Slasher on the beak. | |
| Night in the New Hotel in Darkey Drama 4 47: He had one ob dem iron-ram sort ob beaks. | |
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Lays of Ind (1905) 229: The mouth gets pinched, and, oh! the nose / Looks very like a beak. | |
| ‘’Arry on ’igh Art’ in Punch 1 Feb. 42/2: A lot of old scarecrows in blankets, barefooted, and big in the beak. | |
| Moko Marionettes 12: Dat’s me! Can’t you tell by my beak? | |
| Eve. News (Sydney) 22 May 3/6: ll you blooming fellows what write’s thinks because a chap is up at court for ‘tapping a beak’ [...] he must be a booser. | |
| Chimmie Fadden Explains 42: Mr. Paul painted his Whiskers’s beak, and you could see it a mile tru a fog! | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 7: Beak, the nose. | |
| Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 93: Just before ‘e sent ye down, ye dropped a ‘ot ‘un on ‘is beak. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 16 Nov. 8/7: The red-nosed man was holding forth at length [...] ‘If I had your beak,’ said the tired man [...] ‘I’d get a job with the tramway people standing, at street corners to keep the people back, it would save the wear and tear of red flags’. | |
| Shorty McCabe 38: I called him Blue Beak for short. [...] It wasn’t just red, nor purple. It was as near blue as a nose can get. | |
| Maison De Shine 196: He’s busted Mangle’s beak. | |
| ‘A Rain Check’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 296: I’d ought to turned up that big beak of his until it [...] strangled him. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 122: The inner door was opened violently and a scarlet beaked face, crested by a comb of feathery hair, thrust itself in. | |
| ‘A Lodging for the Knight’ in Top-Notch Mag. 1 Apr. 🌐 So long as a guy is honest he can stand right here and freeze his beak off without being disturbed. | |
| Right Ho, Jeeves 83: He was smelling a rose at the moment in a limp sort of way, but removed the beak as I approached. | |
| Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks n.p.: Beak: Nose. | |
| Bluey & Curley 6 June [synd. cartoon strip] Did you notice the old brass hat with the red beak. | |
| Lady in the Lake (1952) 9: On the wall there was a huge tinted photo of an elderly party with a chiselled beak and whiskers and a wing collar. | |
| Dud Avocado (1960) 186: ‘I could hardly be mistaken for an Irishmnan with this nose, could I?’ he said, grinning eagerly and inviting us to study the old Norse beak. | |
| Holy Smoke 82: Don’t go shoving your beak around the door while all the stoush is on. | |
| Pimp 101: The buyer hurled his beak towards the ceiling and laughed. | |
| Ladies’ Man (1985) 22: He [...] stared with malicious mischief at her beak. | |
| Hooligans (2003) 50: Graves once had a beak, made Durante look like he had a nose job. | |
| Finnegan’s Week 339: He [...] kissed her lightly on the nose, saying ‘I adore that bent beak’. | |
| Urban Grimshaw 171: Get out of my face before I smash your beak in. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | (con. 1980s) Skagboys 201: The burd whae’s groanin wi snotters comin oot ay her beak. | |
| Happy Mutant Baby Pills 28: He let me take in his steel blue eyes, chiseled beak, and white crew cut. | |
| Decent Ride 106: Ah gits up n through, blawin ching n snotter oot ay ma beak. | |
| Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] ... landing on the deck with a busted beak and a split eye. | |
| Young Team 42: The plank [...] hits me beak, which splatters everywhere. | |
| (con. 1991-94) City of Margins 22: Donnie [...] reaches out with the bat, gently pressing it against the tip of Giuseppe’s nose. Some beak this bum’s got. |
2. (also bake) the mouth, or face.
 | implied in shut your beak! | |
| Poached Eggs and Pearls (1917) 16: bill: Do you reckon we could say we’d changed our minds and like a cup of tea instead? george: Not now we’ve drunk it. That tall one saw me with my beak inside. | |
| (con. 1910s) Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 19: Close your beak. | |
| in Best of Myles (1968) 34: So help me, I am a crane-driver from Drogheda, and I have not opened my beak since I came in tonight. | |
| (con. 1890s) Pictures in the Hallway 136: I’ll flatten your grinny bake, an’ knock th’ plume outa yer impudence. | |
| Look Long Upon a Monkey 85: Them two’ll know what’s coming to them if they starts having a go, opening their beaks and putting in the scream. | |
| (con. 1940s) Dark Sea Running 161: I hollered, ‘You want a scabbed beak...?’. | |
| Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 22: Now every time I open my bake he’s on the blower to one of them Prod puffs in the BBC. | |
| Salesman 43: The guy opened and closed his beak a few times. | |
| (con. 1981) East of Acre Lane 10: Jus’ quiet your beak an’ lemme chat to my spar. | |
| Dirty South 15: I had to threaten her [...] to keep her beak quiet. | |
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | ‘The Smell of Tears’ at www.acidalex.com 🌐 2: A filthy, lazy meid with a slack poes and a loud ugly bek that Hond has to keep beating daily until it fokken shuts up. |
3. the penis.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
4. (drugs) cocaine [f. sense 1].
| Outlaws (ms.) 9: See them knobs hauling beak round the city. You need to be Geoff Capes to make a living on that weight! | |
| Stump 95: Can of ale an a line of beak back in me own gaff, that’s what I want. | |
| Guardian 25 Aug. 🌐 Sometimes we do beak or garys. |
In derivatives
1. posessing a large nose.
| London Life 24 May 6/1: Beaky [i.e. Benjamin Disraeli] : Ah, ma tear, ’tis very sheap, / Shoost as sheap to me as lives are [...] (Jew’s harp-bow). | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Dec. 26/2: Of course, the barrackers for Ikey will argue that no member of the beaky brotherhood could ‘get round’ on such easy terms as these, several of the runners being unmarketable, because they were supposed to be ‘stiff.’. | |
| Arthur’s 105: I knew his name was ‘Beaky’. |
2. nosey, inquisitive.
| Stump 168: Bleedin posh twats [...] Yeh know how fuckin beaky thee are. |
In phrases
1. to have a drink.
| Jack Randall’s Diary 10: They gave To Dick the gaily circling cup, To dip his beak. | |
| Adventures of Philip (1899) 420: Baynes sat with his friend [...] dipping his nose in the brandy-and-water. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 4 Dec. 4/8: You chaps to me seems sort o’ queer / Wot lolls about in bars / An’ dips your beaks in pints o’ beer. | |
| Side-stepping with Shorty 33: Adolph, the grocery clerk, dippin’ his beak into a mug of froth. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 11 Apr. 3/2: Dip your beak / In flat colonial wallop. | |
| True Drunkard’s Delight. | |
| Western Dly Press 12 Sept. 4/7: Unlike most non-alcoholic drinks you feel good — and you keep on feeling good after dipping your beak therein. | |
| DSUE (1984) 311/2: C.19–20. |
2. (US und.) to skim money from (criminal) gains prior to passing the loot to a superior.
| Boy from County Hell 218: [T]he whole state was crooked, and if you didn’t dip your beak, you were shunned. |
(US und.) orig. US Mafia, to take a share of criminal profits, bribes, etc.
| The Force [ebook] ‘As long as the bosses get their beaks wet, they don’t give a shit’. |
In exclamations
(Aus. prison) an excl. used to upbraid one who is staring.
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Beak-O. A riposte to someone who is staring. |
shut up! be quiet!
| ‘Plunder Creek’ in Bentley’s Misc. Feb. 127: ‘Shut your ugly beak, you croaking blackbird!’ interrupted the American. | |
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage. | |
| Pet Peeve 61: ‘Shut your beak,’ Hannah snapped. ‘We’re trying to make a decision here.’. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
In phrases
of a man, to have sexual intercourse.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |