beaver2 (bever)

[Early mod. E. also bever, beevor, etc., altered, by confusion with beaver1, in "beaver hat," from earlier baver, bavier, IMG:content-1822.png:[blocks in formation] 1, Beaver fixed to the corselet: B , vizor; C , beaver. 2, Beaver working on pivots and capable of being raised to cover the face: B , beaver. Both are examples of the middle of the 14th century. (From Viollet-le-Duc's "Dict. du Mobilier français.") part of the face and cheeks, fixed securely to the armor of the neck and breast, and sufficiently large to allow the head to turn behind it. In this for it was throughout the fifteenth century it was the movable protection for the lower part of the with headpieces other than armet. In English armor face, while the vizor covered the upper part; it is therefore nearly the same as the aventaile (which see). In the sixteenth century the movable beaver was confounded with the vizor. So beene they both at one, and doen upreare Their bevers bright each other for to greet. He wore his beaver up. Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 29. Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. IMG:content-1823.png:[blocks in formation] 496 Beaver-rat (Hydromys chrysogaster). rat of America. the water-vole of Europe, Arvicola amphibius, or the musk2. A name of the ondatra, muskrat, or musquash of North America, Fiber zibet hic us.