Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A slanting surface or bevel on the edge of a cutting tool, such as a chisel.
  • noun The upper, faceted portion of a cut gem, above the girdle and below the table.
  • noun A groove or flange designed to hold a beveled edge, as of a gem.
  • noun A ring that secures the crystal of a watch or chronometer, often rotatable and marked so as to allow timekeeping functions.
  • noun The plastic frame around the screen of a television or monitor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To grind to an edge; cut to a sloping edge; bevel.
  • noun The slope at the edge of a cutting-tool, as a chisel or plane. It is generally single, but sometimes double.
  • noun The oblique side or face of a gem; specifically, one of four similarly situated four-sided facets on the top or crown of a brilliant, which are sometimes called templets. See cut under brilliant.
  • noun In jewelry: That part of the setting of a precious stone which incloses it and by which it is held in place.
  • noun A flat surface of gold engraved with any device to serve as a seal, when a stone is not used. See chaton.
  • noun In watch-making, the grooved flange or rim in which the crystal of a watch is set.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The rim which encompasses and fastens a jewel or other object, as the crystal of a watch, in the cavity in which it is set.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The sloping edge or face on a cutting tool
  • noun The oblique side or face of a cut gem; especially the upper faceted portion of a brilliant (diamond), which projects from its setting
  • noun The rim and flange which encompasses and fastens a jewel or other object, such as the crystal of a watch, in the cavity in which it is set; the collet.
  • noun The panel that covers the front of a computer case, or the panel covering each drive bay that can be removed to install a removable drive that requires external access, such as a CD/DVD-ROM drive, which usually has its own preinstalled bezel.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a sloping edge on a cutting tool

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably French dialectal; akin to French biseau, from bis, two times, from Latin; see dwo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From old French dialect biseau ("sloping edge"), variation on bijou ("jewel"), itself probably from Breton bisou, bizou ("ring worn on the finger"), from biz ("finger").

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Examples

  • The kindle could be more sleek if the bezel is thinner and allow more room for bigger screen.

    Surprise! Amazon Launches Large-Screen Kindle 2009

  • The bezel is 45 mm in diameter and the entire case is made of light weight Titanium.

    Have The Earth Rotate On Your Wrist | Impact Lab 2007

  • Fitted into the hole like a jewel in a bezel was a smaller volume, about the size of a small chapbook, bound in white leather with the title printed in gilded Latin letters.

    Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instrument Series Cassandra Clare 2009

  • Fitted into the hole like a jewel in a bezel was a smaller volume, about the size of a small chapbook, bound in white leather with the title printed in gilded Latin letters.

    City of Glass Cassandra Clare 2009

  • Forty-two diamonds encircle the bezel, which is the edge of the ring†™ s face, and two larger football-shaped diamonds are on each side of the bezel.

    MySpace Music To Launch Tonight. Here’s What You’ll See (And Hear) Michael Arrington 2005

  • The bezel is a little thinner, too, making for a noticeably smaller top surface area.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Chad Sapieha 2011

  • Instead of physical buttons, the PlayBook takes advantage of a half-inch touch-sensitive border, called a bezel, that runs around the front screen like a photo frame.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Omar El Akkad 2011

  • Its an incredible watch with the original coin bezel, tritnite

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • Its an incredible watch with the original coin bezel, tritnite Drag to Playlist

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • (The bezel is a good place to put your thumbs when you're holding the iPad, so you can keep a solid grip without interfering with the touchscreen.)

    Macworld Jason Snell 2010

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