pique-devant
pique-devant noun: a small beard trimmed to a sharp point.
Noun
pique-devant (plural pique-devants)
- A small beard trimmed to a sharp point.
- Neither will I meddle with our varietie of beards, of which some are shauen from the chin like those of Turks, not a few cut short like to the beard of marques Otto, some made round like a rubbing brush, other with a pique de vant (O fine fashion!) or now and then suffered to grow long, the barbers...1587, Raphael Holinshed et al., Holinshed’s Chronicle, London: Henry Denham, Book 2, Chapter 7, p. 172
- twice double his Patrimonie hath he spent in carefull cherishing & preseruing his pickerdeuant1596, Thomas Nashe, Have with You to Saffron-Walden, London: John Danter
- Synonyms:
- bodkin beard, stiletto
Synonyms of pique-devant
- bodkin beard
- stiletto
Forms of pique-devant
| plural | pique-devants |
|---|---|
| alternative form | pickadevant |
| alternative form | pick-a-devant |
| alternative form | pickadevaunt |
| alternative form | pickdevant |
| alternative form | pickedevant |
| alternative form | pickerdevant |
| alternative form | pike devant |
| alternative form | pique de vant |
Origin of pique-devant
Probably coined in England, from French pique (“pike, spade (cards)”) or piquer (“to prick”) + devant (“in front”)
Questions about pique-devant
- What does pique-devant mean?
- Pique-devant means a small beard trimmed to a sharp point.
- What part of speech is pique-devant?
- Pique-devant is a noun.
- What is the plural of pique-devant?
- The plural of pique-devant is pique-devants.
Words near pique-devant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pique-devant (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “pique-devant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pique-devant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.