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moustache

 - 7 dictionary results

mous⋅tache

[muhs-tash, muh-stash]
–noun
mustache.

moustached, adjective

mus⋅tache

[muhs-tash, muh-stash]
–noun
1. the hair growing on the upper lip
2. such hair on men, allowed to grow without shaving, and often trimmed in any of various shapes.
3. hairs or bristles growing near the mouth of an animal.
4. a stripe of color, or elongated feathers, suggestive of a mustache on the side of the head of a bird.
5. something resembling a mustache, as food or drink adhering to the upper lip: a mustache of milk.
Also, moustache.


Origin:
1575–85; < MF moustache < It mostaccio; see mustachio


mustached, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To moustache
mous·tache   (mŭs'tāsh', mə-stāsh')   
n.  Variant of mustache.
mus·tache also mous·tache   (mŭs'tāsh', mə-stāsh')   
n.  
  1. The hair growing on the human upper lip, especially when cultivated and groomed.

  2. Something similar to the cultivated, groomed hair on the human upper lip, as:

    1. A group of bristles or hairs about the mouth of an animal.

    2. Distinctive coloring or feathers near the beak of a bird.

    3. Food or drink sticking conspicuously to the upper lip: wiped the milk mustache from my face.


[French moustache, from Italian dialectal mustaccio, from Medieval Greek moustakion, from Greek mustax, mustache, upper lip.]
mus'tached (mŭs'tāsht, mə-stāsht') adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

moustache 
see mustache.

mustache 
1585, from Fr. moustache, from It. mostaccio, from Medieval Gk. moustakion, dim. of Doric mystax (gen. mystakos) "upper lip, mustache," related to mastax "jaws, mouth," lit. "that with which one chews," from PIE base *mnto- "mouth" (see mouth). Borrowed earlier (1551) as mostacchi, from the It. word or its Sp. derivative mostacho. The plural form of this, mustachios, lingers in English. Dutch slang has a useful noun, de befborstel, to refer to the mustache specifically as a tool for stimulating the clitoris; probably from beffen "to stimulate the clitoris with the tongue."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

moustache

hair grown on the upper lip by men. The wearing of mustaches, like beards, has been since antiquity a reflection of such factors as climate (local or temporal), custom, religious belief, and personal taste. It was usual in the past to make no distinction between a mustache and other facial hair such as a beard or whiskers, as these were usually worn together. As early as 2650 BC, however, Egyptian artifacts show a pencil-line mustache with no beard

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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