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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Beefeater

Beef'-ēat'er, n.

noun

n. [bee and eater.] (Ornith.) A bird that feeds on bees;—a name given to different species of Merops, a genus of fissirostral passerine birds, of which the M. apiaster of Europe is remarkable for the brilliancy of its plumage. Baird.

Beef'-eat'er, n.

noun

n. [beef and eater. Corrupted, in its second meaning, from buffetier, a keeper of the buffet or sideboard, because some of them were originally arranged at side-tables, at solemn festivals.]

  1. One that eats beef; hence, a large, well-fed person.
  2. One of the yeomen of the guard, in England.
  3. (Ornith.) A South African bird of the genus Buphaga, that feeds on the larvae or maggots hatched under the skin of oxen, antelopes, &c. Baird.