beaver

noun

1. (countable)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.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The fur of the beaver.
3. (countable)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”

   “The woman's hair and woman's beaver had both been jerked off, exposing the cropped head of a man...”

4. (Canada, US, countable, uncountable)Beaver pelts as an article of exchange or as a standard of value.
5. (countable, uncountable)Beaver cloth, a heavy felted woollen cloth, used chiefly for making overcoats.
6. (countable, uncountable)A brown colour, like that of a beaver.
7. (countable)A move in response to being doubled, in which one immediately doubles the stakes again, keeping the doubling cube on one’s own side of the board.
8. (alt-of, countable, uncountable)Alternative letter-case form of Beaver (“member of the youngest wing of the Scout movement”).
9. (countable, slang)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.”

10. (historical, slang, uncountable)A game, in which points are scored by spotting beards.
11. (Canada, US, countable, slang)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.”

    “Between you and me, uh, she might have been fifteen, but when you get that little red beaver right up there in front of you, I don’t think it's crazy at all and I don’t think you do either.”

    “Let’s get some of that Saturday night beaver.”

    “The store sold beaver books, fuck-suck books, homo books, novels, films, slides, playing cards, dildoes, cock rings, S&M gear, and French ticklers.”

    “[…] once she wore none at all, swears to this day that he saw her beaver that fateful Friday night.”

12. (US, countable, offensive, slang, uncountable)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.””

13. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative spelling of bevor (“part of a helmet”).

    “Lord Stafford’s father, Duke of Buckingham, Is either slain or wounded dangerously; I cleft his beaver with a downright blow:”

    “With trembling hands her beaver he untied, / Which done, he saw, and seeing knew her face.”

    “Without alighting from his horse, the conqueror called for a bowl of wine, and opening the beaver, or lower part of his helmet, announced that he quaffed it, “To all true English hearts, and to the confusion of foreign tyrants.””

    “As each one brings a little of himself to what he sees you brought the trappings of your historic preoccupations, so that Monsieur flattered you by presenting himself with beaver up like Hamlet's father's ghost!”

14. Butter.

    “Butter – Beaver.”

15. A native or resident of the American state of Oregon.
16. A member of the youngest wing of the Scout movement, composed of groups for children, traditionally boys, of approximately five to seven years of age.
17. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of beaver (“beard-spotting game”).

verb

1. 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.”

2. To work hard.

   “When A. G. Dickens published his English Reformation in 1964 the archival beavering of a generation of graduate students was given its imprimatur in the claim to understand how the English people felt about religious change—largely, according to Dickens, positively.”

3. (slang)To cut a continuous ring around a tree that one is felling.
4. After being doubled, to immediately double the stakes again, a move that keeps the doubling cube on one’s own side of the board.
5. (slang)To spot a beard in a game of beaver.

   “Beavering of foreign visitors does not count. This is a rule, but it is never carried out.”

name

1. (countable)A surname.
2. (countable, uncountable)A number of places in the United States:
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21. (dated)The Dane-zaa people, indigenous to northern Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.