Definition of "sideburns" [sideburns]

• Growths of hair down the sides of a man's face in front of the ears, especially when worn with the rest of the beard shaved off. (noun-plural)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Union army general's famous facial hairstyle led to the term sideburns and I hear Huston is trying to grow his own for the part."
• "One of them, Ambrose Burnside, even gave rise to the term sideburns because of his elaborate whiskers."
• "Burnside, who loved facial hair and from whom the word sideburns originated, was here briefly in 1865 when more than 30,000 Yankee soldiers poured into town at the end of the Civil War."