noun

• (botany) Long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn.
  "the beard of grain"
• (printing, dated) That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face.
• (slang, originally gambling) A fake customer or companion; an intermediary.
  "To get his way, Roberts employed a bit of developer's cunning: rather than approach Galardi directly, he sent a friend, Alan Meyers, as a “beard”."
• (slang, originally gambling) A fake customer or companion; an intermediary.
  "What are you talking about, I should be the beard? I don't wanna be a beard."

verb

• (intransitive, obsolete) To grow hair on the chin and jaw.
• (transitive) To boldly and bravely oppose or confront, often to the chagrin of the one being bearded.
  "Robin Hood is always shown as bearding the Sheriff of Nottingham."
• (transitive) To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt.
• (transitive) To deprive (an oyster or similar shellfish) of the gills.