beardlet

beardlet

English

Etymology

beard +‎ -let

Noun

beardlet (plural beardlets)

1. A little beard.
   • 1837 Edward Duke, Prolusiones Historicæ, Salisbury: for the author, p. 168,

     In the present day […] there does appear also a lurking desire amongst a portion of our fellow-men for the revival of the beard, but, fearful of the aroused voice of the country, they seem tremulously to adopt―the beardlet―or the imperial, as it is magnificently termed.

   • 1929, Hilaire Belloc, Richelieu: A Study, Philadelphia: Lippencott, Chapter 5, p. 88,

     the firm slight lips between the military moustache and beardlet of that pointed face

   • 2007, Anne Enright, The Gathering, London: Vintage, Chapter 10, p. 58,

     Golden hair courses down his belly. It hangs in little beardlets from under each pap and fizzes out from under his arms.

Anagrams

• baltered, retabled