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barb. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
barb, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
barb in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English barbe, from Middle French barbe, from Old French barbe (“beard, beard-like element”). Doublet of beard.
Noun
barb (plural barbs)
- The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
- A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, , London: T. Maxey for Rich Marriot, , →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN:The barbel is so called […] by reason of his barbs, or wattles at his mouth.
- (ornithology) One of the many side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.
- (ichthyology) Any of various species of freshwater carp-like fish that have barbels and belong to the cyprinid family.
- (US) The sciaenid fish Menticirrhus americanus, found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.
- Synonyms: Carolina whiting, king whiting, southern kingcroaker, southern kingfish
- (botany) A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.
- (obsolete) A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.
- Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen.
- Synonyms: barbel, barble
- (obsolete) A bit for a horse.
- A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging.
Derived terms
Translations
point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc
beard or something that resembles a beard
— see beard
one of the side branches of a feather
fish of the cyprinid family
fish
Menticirrhus americanus — see also kingfish
botany: hair or bristle ending in a double hook
muffler worn by nuns and mourners
little projections of the mucous membrane
bit for a horse
— see bit
Verb
barb (third-person singular simple present barbs, present participle barbing, simple past and past participle barbed)
- To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.
1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 544–546:[…] for this day will pour down, / If I conjecture aught, no drizzling shower, / But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.
1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.iii:Undoubtedly—when Ingratitude barbs the Dart of Injury—the wound has double danger in it—
1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., , →OCLC:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
- (Nigeria) To cut (hair).
- (obsolete) To shave or dress the beard of.
- (obsolete) To clip; to mow.
c. 1603 (date written), Iohn Marston, The Malcontent, London: V S for William Aspley, , published 1604, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii:O thou pale ſober night, / […] / The ſtooping Sitheman that dooth barbe the field, / Thou makſt winke ſure: […]
Translations
Etymology 2
Clipping of Barbary.
Noun
barb (plural barbs)
- The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.
1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, 8th edition, London: Thomas Davison, , for John Murray, , →OCLC, page 34, lines 699–700:Why sends not the Bridegroom his promised gift, / Is his heart more cold, or his barb less swift?
2009 October, Laurent Roustan, “The Horse, Present since the Dawn of Time”, in Alphatrad Internationale, transl., Au Royaume du Cheval: Les Haras Nationaux du Maroc [In the Kingdom of the Horse: The National Studs of Morocco], Souyri, Aveyron, France: Editions Au fil du Temps, →ISBN:However, in the last few years, the stud farms in Morocco and elsewhere in the world have rediscovered the qualities of the barb, which, in Berber tradition, remains the king of the "fantasias", a festival that is also becoming fashionable once again.
- A blackish or dun variety of pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.
Etymology 3
Clipping of barbiturate.
Noun
barb (plural barbs)
- (informal, pharmacology) A barbiturate.
- Coordinate term: benzo
1998, Jerry Dorsman, How to Quit Drugs for Good: A Complete Self-Help Guide, New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 50:The benzos, it turns out, are just as highly addicting as the barbs, but they do have a much lower potential to cause death by overdose. […] The barbs became one of the most widely abused classes of drugs in the 1960s and 1970s.
Etymology 4
Corruption of bard.
Noun
barb (plural barbs)
- Armor for a horse.
1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 29:The defensive armor with the horses of the ancient knights ... These are frequently, though improperly, stiled barbs.
Translations
armor for a horse
— see also bard
Verb
barb (third-person singular simple present barbs, present participle barbing, simple past and past participle barbed)
- To cover a horse in armor.
c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 10:And now, in stead of mounting barbed steeds / To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, / He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber […].
Further reading
Anagrams
Catalan
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Inherited from Latin barbus.
Noun
barb m (plural barbs)
- barbel (freshwater fish of the genus Barbus)
Etymology 2
From Latin varus, influenced by barba (“beard”).
Noun
barb m (plural barbs)
- blackhead (skin blemish)
Further reading
Manx
Etymology
From Old Irish borb (“foolish, rude”).
Adjective
barb (plural barbey, comparative barbey)
- sharp, drastic
- cruel, rough
Derived terms
Noun
barb m (genitive singular , plural )
- sharp point, javelin
Mutation