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Beard

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Cutting the beard. The Turks think it a dire disgrace to have the beard cut. Slaves who serve in the seraglio have clean chins, as a sign of their servitude.

Kissing the beard. In Turkey wives kiss their husband, and children their father on the beard.

To make one’s beard (Chaucer). This is the French “Faire la barbe à quelquʹun,” and refers to a barber’s taking hold of a man’s beard to dress it, or to his shaving the chin of a customer. To make one’s beard is to have him wholly at your mercy.

I told him to his beard. I told him to his face, regardless of consequences; to speak openly and fearlessly.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Bean Goose (The)
Bean-king (The)
Bear (A)
Bear (The)
Bear (To)
Bear of Bradwardine (The)
Bear Account (A)
Bear Garden
Bear-leader
Bears are caught by Honey
Beard
Beard (To)
Bearded
Bearded Women:
Bearings
Bearnais (Le)
Beasts (Heraldic):
Beastly Drunk
Beat
Beat (To)
Beat (To)