Definition

1. Noun:
   • A bird's beak or bill: The hard, pointed, projecting mouthpart of a bird, used for eating, grooming, and manipulating objects.
   • An animal's snout or nose: A projecting nose or muzzle, especially of a mammal.
   • A pointed tip or end: The projecting point or tip of an object.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The sparrow used its sharp neb to crack open the seed.
  • The dog's wet neb nudged my hand.
  • He dipped the neb of his pen into the inkwell.

Advanced Usage

• "by neb": An archaic or dialectal phrase meaning by the nose or by the beak.
  • The falcon was held by neb and claw.
• "neb of the morning": A poetic or archaic term for the dawn or first light.
  • We set out at the neb of the morning.

Variants and Related Words

• Nebby (adj, chiefly Scottish & Northern English): Inquisitive, nosy.
  • Don't be so nebby about your neighbors' affairs.
• Nebbed (adj): Having a beak or point of a specified kind.
  • The sharp-nebbed bird pecked at the wood.

Synonyms

• Beak: The horny projecting jaws of a bird.
• Bill: Another term for a bird's beak.
• Snout: The projecting nose and mouth of an animal.
• Nose: The part projecting above the mouth on the face of a person or animal.
• Nib: The pointed end part of a pen.

Related Phrases

• Neb and feathers: An old phrase referring to the whole bird, from beak to tail.
  • The taxidermist preserved the specimen, neb and feathers.
• To neb out: To protrude or stick out like a beak or point.
  • The cliff nebs out over the sea.

Related Idioms

• As sharp as a neb: Very sharp or perceptive.
  • Her wit is as sharp as a neb.
• To follow one's neb: To go wherever one's nose leads; to wander aimlessly.
  • With no map, we just followed our neb through the hills.

Noun

1. horny projecting mouth of a bird
2. a long projecting or anterior elongation of an animal's head; especially the nose