beaver

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a man's hat with a tall crown

   usually covered with silk or with beaver fur

2. 2
   verb

   to work hard on something

   I beavered all day at my project.

3. 3
   noun

   A semiaquatic rodent of the genus Castor, having a wide, flat tail and webbed feet, native to the Northern Hemisphere.

   Then, for the safeguard of his personage, He did appoint a warlike equipage Of foreign beasts, not in the forest bred, But part by land and part by water fed; For tyranny is with strange aid supported. Then unto him all monstrous beasts resorted Bred of two kinds, as Griffons, Minotaurs, Crocodiles, Dragons, Beavers, and Centaurs: With those himself he strengthened mightily, That fear he need no force of enemy.

4. 4
   noun

   A hat, of various shapes, made from a felted beaver fur (or later of silk), fashionable in Europe between 1550 and 1850.

   a broad beaver slouched over his eyes

5. 5
   noun

   A beard or a bearded person.

   The beards were false ones. I could see the elastic going over their ears. In other words, I had fallen among a band of criminals who were not wilful beavers, but had merely assumed the fungus for purposes of disguise.

6. 6
   noun

   The pubic hair near a vulva or a vulva itself; (attributively) denoting films or literature featuring nude women.

   Finally it came on. It was a beauty, a beaver flick made in the late 1970s. It was called Big Black Leather Splits.

7. 7
   noun

   A woman, especially one who is sexually attractive.

   “10-4, Beaver [CB talk for a female], we’re all going down to Plains tomorrow after Jimmy Carter wins.”

8. 8
   verb

   To form a felt-like texture, similar to the way beaver fur is used for felt-making.

   Without these attentions the woad will not beaver well, a term descriptive of the fineness of the capillary filaments into which it draws out when broken between the finger and thumb.

Etymology

From Middle English bever, from Old English befer, from Proto-West Germanic *bebru, from Proto-Germanic *bebruz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰébʰrus (“beaver”). Cognate with West Frisian bever, Dutch bever, French bièvre, German Biber, dialectal Swedish bjur. Non-Germanic cognates include Welsh befer, Latin fiber, Lithuanian bẽbras, Russian бобр (bobr), Avestan 𐬠𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬭𐬀 (bauura), and Sanskrit बभ्रु (bábhru, “mongoose; ichneumon”). Slang use to refer to a woman evolved from use to refer to pubic hair, which evolved from use to refer to beards, which evolved from use to refer to the furry animal or…