whisker

noun

1. whiskers, a beard.
2. Usually whiskers. side whiskers.
3. a single hair of the beard.
4. Archaic. a mustache.
5. one of the long, stiff, bristly hairs growing about the mouth of certain animals, as the cat or rat; vibrissa.
6. Also called whisker boom, whisker pole. Nautical. any spar for extending the clew or clews of a sail so that it can catch more wind.
7. Radio, Electronics. cat whisker.
8. Crystallography. a thin filament of a crystal, usually several millimeters long and one to two microns in diameter, having unusually great strength.