1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. viii. 'My eyes, how green!' exclaimed the young gentleman. 'Why a beak's a madgst'rate.'
18(?) Hood, Tale of a Trumpet.
The pies and jays that utter words, And other Dicky gossips of birds, Who talk with as much good sense and decorum, As many beaks who belong to the quorum.
1881. Punch, Dec. 3, 258. A pair of anti-vivisectionists. Sir Slangsby Jaunter. 'See that old fellow, Miss Diana? That's Doctor Katchett, who swears he's going to find a cure for lunatics! Just got into trouble. Been trying the effects of extreme terror and bodily fatigue on a rabbit, and without chloroform, too, the old ruffian! And then he killed it, and dissected its brain. Going to be had up before the beak for it! Bow St., you know!' Miss Diana. 'Serve him right, horrid man! Don't want to know about such people. But talking of rabbits, what a splendid run that second Hare gave us to-day! Thirty minutes gallop without a check!—Wasn't it lovely!—And I was in at the death!'
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., Oct. 12, p. 5, col. 2. Taken before some French beak whom he did not know, and an interpreter brought, the 'cotched' culprit was made to pay 20 f., his friend escaping because he was not caught red-*handed.
An English Synonym is 'queer cuffin' (old cant).
French Synonyms. Un sapeur (thieves': properly 'a sapper,' i.e., 'one who undermines' [one's chances of wrong doing]); un pante en robe (pante in French slang is equivalent to 'a man' or 'cove'; en robe = 'in a robe'); un endormi (popular: properly 'a sleepy-head'); un grignon (thieves': probably from grigner les dents, 'to show one's teeth threateningly'; or from grognon, 'grumbler,' 'growler'); un gerbier; un curieux (thieves': i.e., 'the curious one'; from the adj. curieux. Michel, however, adds that curieux formerly signified 'a courtier'); un singe à rabat (thieves': possibly rabat is an abbreviated form of rabat-joie, 'a wet blanket.' The phrase would then mean 'a baboon with a wet blanket,' 'a damper'; or it may be derived from singe, a monkey + rabat, slang for 'a cloak.' Cf., singe de la rousse); un lustre (thieves': properly 'renown'; 'distinction'); un pant' de la magistrat' muche (thieves').
Italian Synonym. Un antigo (literally 'an old one'; also 'a master,' 'a boss').
Spanish Synonym. Sombrador (thieves' and popular: from sombra, 'shade'; i.e., one who puts in the shade. Poner â la sombra is 'to imprison').
3. (popular.)—The nose. For synonyms, see Conk.
1598. Florio. Naso adunco, a beake-nose. [m.]
1854. Thackeray, Newcomes, I., 296. The well-known hooked beak of the old countess. [m.]
1865. E. C. Clayton, Cruel Fort, I., 143. A large, fat, greasy woman, with a prominent beak.
1876. E. C. Grenville Murray, The Member for Paris, I., p. 80. It was not the most agreeable thing in the world to be suddenly interrupted in a mantel-shelf conversation by a gentleman with a firm beak-nose and a red rosette in his button-hole.
4. (Eton and Marlborough Schools.)—A master.
Beaker, subs. (thieves').—A fowl.
Sometimes shortened into beak.
The derivation is obviously an
illusion to the beak or horny
mandibles of poultry. Formerly
Called cackling-cheat
(q.v.), and by French thieves
une estable, or une estaphle.
Beaker-Hunter, subs. (thieves').—A
poultry yard thief. Also
beak-hunter.
