walrus mustache
1
6.6
- noun
- /ˈwɔːl.rəs ˈmʌs.tæʃ/
:
bigote de morsa
- If I felt upset at the idea of Microsoft and Random House in the same room, I had only to look at Brass, with his walrus mustache and crumpled gray suit, to calm down.
- a gray walrus mustache
- a man with a walrus mustache
Examples
-
The walrus mustache that almost completely covers his mouth moves nervously up and down.
Fiction book (1990) -
What can I get for you?" The innkeeper was fat and jolly, with a white walrus mustache.
Fiction book (1991) -
He turns to me, a big smile on his face, clean-shaven except for the semi-walrus mustache.
Fiction book (1999) -
Pulling out his sword again, Andrew managed a salute, which Pat returned with his usual dramatic flourish, his massive red muttonchops and walrus mustache drawing more than one envious look from the knights.
Fiction book (1990) -
Most other viewers will get fair warning about what they're in for during the opening credits, when they see Chris Noth wearing a walrus mustache that appears to have been assembled from belly-button lint.
Blog text (20) -
The burly man walked into the room sporting a thick, bushy walrus mustache that drooped over his mouth.
-
At the party, everyone noticed the jovial innkeeper with a prominent walrus mustache and a friendly smile.
-
The detective had a distinctive walrus mustache that twitched as he questioned the witnesses.
Synonyms
8
9.3
Hair on the upper lip that men usually grow
2
2.1
A very large, bushy growth of hair above the upper lip that grows down the sides of the mouth
1
3.0
Thick hair above the upper lip on a man's face
How Bushy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly inferable from the parts: a B1 learner who knows 'walrus' (an animal with prominent whiskers) and 'mustache' (facial hair) can readily infer a mustache that resembles a walrus's whiskers — i.e., thick, bushy and drooping. This resemblance-based composition is a straightforward, cross-linguistic metaphorical naming pattern, so the sense is predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The term walrus mustache comes from the animal: the walrus has thick whiskers that hang over its mouth. A mustache that looks like those whiskers is called a walrus mustache, so it means 'a thick, bushy mustache that droops over the mouth'.