whitebeard
(ˈhwaɪtbɪəd)
1. An old man with a white beard.
† Also as quasi-proper name: in quot. 1450 probably in allusion to the representation of God the Father as an aged man.
| 1450 Sir J. Fastolf in Paston Lett. I. 131 They shall be quyt by Blackberd or Whyteberd; that ys to sey, by God or the Devyll. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 112 Whitebeards [mispr. White Beares] haue arm'd their thin and hairelesse Scalps Against thy Maiestie. 1829 Scott Anne of G. xii, ‘If she were worth twenty crowns,’..said the old whitebeard. |
2. Name in Australia for the plant Styphelia ericoides, from the white hairs on the corolla.
| 1898 Morris Austral Engl. |