vandyke

plural vandykes · alternative Van Dyke · alternative Van Dyck · alternative Vandyck · alternative Vandyke

1. An edge with ornamental triangular points.
2. A style of facial hair which has both a mustache and a goatee but with all cheek hair shaven, popular in Europe in the 17th century.

   Raj, you will be painting sideburns and a Van Dyke on a six-inch figurine of Legolas the elf.

   2009 May 11, Eric Kaplan, Richard Rosenstock, “The Monopolar Expedition”, in The Big Bang Theory, season 2, episode 23, spoken by Sheldon Cooper

   1 more example

   He was still an old galliard, with white Buffalo Bill vandyke, and he swanked around, still healthy of flesh, in white suits, looking things over with big sex-amused eyes.

   1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter V, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC

   Synonyms: Vandyke beard

3. A style of dress or collar similar to those in Anthony van Dyck's portrait paintings; a small round cape, the border ornamented with points and indentations.

present singular third person vandykes · participle present vandyking · participle past vandyked · past vandyked · alternative Van Dyke · alternative Van Dyck · alternative Vandyck · alternative Vandyke

1. transitiveTo fit or furnish with a vandyke; to form with points or scallops like a vandyke.

   Again I searched, and found a most diabolical pair of cock-nosed shears, capable of vandyking the interiors of elephants.

   1898, Rudyard Kipling, The Day's Work, volume 1

   1 more example

   The travellers had not advanced many paces towards them before the peaks of three gables rose above them, vandyking the sky and docking the last sparse branches of the elms. Mr. Thomasson's exclamation of relief, as he surveyed the building, was cut short by the harsh rattle of a chain, followed by the roar of a watch-dog, as it bounded from the kennel; in a second a horrid raving and baying, as of a score of hounds, awoke the night.

   1898, Stanley John Weyman, The Castle Inn

plural Vandykes

1. Alternative letter-case form of vandyke.

1. A surname