to make one's beard
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To have one wholly at your mercy, as a barber has when holding a man's beard to dress it, or shaving the chin of a customer, So, to be able to do what you like with one, to outwit or delude him.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to make one's beard” mean?
To have one wholly at your mercy, as a barber has when holding a man's beard to dress it, or shaving the chin of a customer, So, to be able to do what you like with one, to outwit or delude him.
Is “to make one's beard” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.