| 释义 |
▪ I. bar, n.1|bɑː(r)|
Forms: 2–7 barre, 3–7 barr, 5– bar.
[ME. barre, a. OF. barre (= Pr., It., Sp., Pg. barra):—late L. barra of unknown origin. The Celtic derivation accepted by Diez is now discredited: OIr. barr ‘bushy top,’ and its cognates, in no way suit the sense; Welsh bar ‘bar’ is from Eng., and Breton barren ‘bar’ from Fr. (The development of sense had to a great extent taken place before the word was adopted in English.)]
I. A piece of any material long in proportion to its thickness or width.
* Of shape only.
1. gen. A straight piece of wood, metal, or other rigid material, long in proportion to its thickness.
1388Wyclif Num. iv. 10 Thei schulen putte in barris [1382 beryng staues]. 1690W. Walker Idiom. Anglo-Lat. 38 To beat down the statute [? statue] with bars. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Bar, among printers, denotes a piece of iron..whereby the screw of the press is turned in printing. 1815Scott Guy M. lvii, A pallet-bed was placed close to the bar of iron. 1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 11 On the barrel [of a rifle] is the..sliding bar. 1881C. Edwards Organs 50 The sound-bars are glued in place. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Bar, a drilling or tamping-rod.
fig.1388Wyclif Isa. xxvii. 1 The Lord schal visite in his hard swerd..on leuyathan, serpent, a barre [1382 a leuour.] 1684Charnock Attrib. God II. 6 Leviathan is here called a bar-serpent..as mighty men are called bars in Scripture.
2. spec.
a. A thick rod of iron or wood used in a trial of strength, the players contending which of them could throw or pitch it farthest; the distance thrown was measured in lengths of the bar. Hence in obs. fig. phrases.
1531Elyot Gov. i. xvi, Throwyng the heuy stone or barre playing at tenyse. 1600Rowlands Let. Humours Blood iv. 64 To pitch the barre, or to shoote off a gunne. 1715Prior Alma i. 311 While John for ninepins does declare, And Roger loves to pitch the bar. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. Introd. 13 To amuse himself in archery, casting of the bar, wrestling.
fig.1647Cleveland Char. Lond.-Diurn. 5 First, Stamford slew him: then Waller outkilled that halfe a Barre. 1712Addison Spect. No. 538 ⁋5, I did not disbelieve..but yet I thought some in the company had been endeavouring who should pitch the bar farthest. a1733North Lives II. 37 The objectors..outdo, many bars, all that themselves found fault with. 1742Richardson Pamela III. 324 Here's a mere Baby..outdoes 'em by a Bar's Length.
†b. An iron bar used in breaking criminals on the wheel. Obs.
1577Harrison England ii. xi. 223 We have use neither of the wheele nor of the barre.
c. A rod-shaped heating element used in certain types of electric fire. Cf. element n. 4 c and one-bar adj. s.v. one numeral a. 33, etc.
1926–7Army & Navy Stores Catal. 344/1 Electric radiators..Two bars (1,000 watts each). 1949E. Bowen Heat of Day vii. 131 She switched on one more bar of the electric fire. 1970M. Kenyon 100,000 Welcomes v. 32 One bar of a puny electric fire glowed in the hearth.
3. a. A narrow four-sided block of metal or material as manufactured, e.g. of iron, or soap, chocolate, etc.; an ingot of precious metal. Cf. bar-iron in IV.
1595T. Maynarde Drake's Voy. (1849) 18 We got here twenty barres of silver. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Bars of Iron are made of the metal of the sows and pigs, as they come from the furnaces. 1833Marryat P. Simple iv, Four cakes of Windsor, and two bars of yellow for washing. 1876H. N. Humphreys Coin Collect. Man. ii. 9 Bars form a sort of transition stage between the weighed money and true coins. 1906Daily Chron. 25 July 6/4 A shop-worn chocolate-cream bar. 1959Elizabethan Apr. 10/1, I gave you a bar of chocolate on the train from London.
b. Used as a standard of weight or a denomination of currency. Cf. bahar, barre.
1732Abstr. of Voy. to New Calabar River, 1699, taken from Jrnl. of James Barbot in Coll. Voy. & Trav. V. 460/1 We adjusted with them the reduction of our merchandize into bars of iron, as the standard coin, viz. One bunch of beads, one bar... One piece broad Hamborough, one ditto. One piece Nicanees, three ditto... And so pro rata, for every other sort of goods. 1732in F. Moore Trav. Inland Afr. (1738) App. II. 9 Barr, or Sixteenth Part of an Ounce of Gold. 1738Ibid. 45 A Barr is a Denomination given to a certain Quantity of Goods of any kind, which Quantity was of equal Value among the Natives to a Barr of Iron, when this River was first traded to. Thus..an Ounce of Silver is but a Barr.
1737J. Atkins Voy. to Guinea (ed. 2) 40 They all keep Gromettas (Negro Servants) which they hire from Sherbro River, at two Accys or Bars a Month. 1755Johnson, Bar, in African traffick, is used for a denomination of price; payment being formerly made to the Negroes almost wholly in iron bars.
c. A pound; esp. in half a bar, ten shillings. slang.
1911J. W. Horsley I Remember xi. 254 Others [slang words] were new to me, such as..‘bar’ for a sovereign. 1938F. D. Sharpe S. of Flying Squad 331 Half a bar, ten shillings. 1939J. B. Priestley Let People Sing x. 256 Knocker brought out some money and examined it. ‘..A nicker, half a bar, a caser an' a hole.’ 1958M. Pugh Wilderness of Monkeys 77 Half a bar, or what you call ten bob?
†4.
a. An ornamental transverse band on a girdle, saddle, etc.; subseq. an ornamental boss of any shape. Also, a girdle or band. Obs.
c1340Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 162 Boþe þe barres of his belt & oþer blyþe stones. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1200 With sadyll rede enbrowderyd with delyte, Of gold the barres vpp enbosid high. c1400Rom. Rose 1103 The barres were of gold ful fyne, Upon a tyssu of satyne. c1400Destr. Troy xxxiii. 13019 Orestes..comaundet, Bare to the barre bryng him his moder. 1433Test. Ebor. (1855) II. 48 Unam zonam ornatam cum octo barres. c1440Promp. Parv. 24 Barre of a gyrdylle, or oþer harneys, stipa. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 179 The barres of mens breeches haue such strong stitching.
b. A small slip of silver fixed transversely below the clasp of a medal, as an additional mark of distinction.
1864Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xx. 353 A Bar is attached to the ribbon for every act of such gallantry as would have won the Cross. 1885Standard 2 Mar. 3/5 He affixed the medals and bars to the breasts of the..recipients.
5. a. A straight strip or stripe, narrow in proportion to its length, a broad line; e.g. of colour. stars and bars: see star n.1 6 b.
c1440in Househ. Ord. (1790) 460 Lay orethwart him [a roast pig] one barre of silver foile, and another of golde. 1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. i. (1623) B iij, In each joynt a golden Barre in stead of those three whitish rings which other Bees haue. 1806Wordsw. Sonn. Liberty, Ode 28 A blue bar of solid cloud Across the setting sun. 1878Gurney Crystallog. 10 The bar or line drawn over the 2 denotes, etc.
fig.1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VII. xviii. ii. 122 The brightest triumph has a bar of black in it.
b. bar of Michael Angelo, the superciliary ridge or prominence of the frontal bone at the base of the forehead, characteristic of the heads of Michael Angelo's statues.
1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxxv. 127 And over those ethereal eyes The bar of Michael Angelo.
6. Her. An honourable ordinary, formed (like the fess) by two parallel lines drawn horizontally across the shield, and including not more than its fifth part. bar sinister: in popular, but erroneous phrase, the heraldic sign of illegitimacy; see baton, bend, (sinister). bar-gemel: a double bar, or small bars placed in couplets.
1592W. Wyrley Armorie 97 Sir Lewis Harcourt came, Two golden bars that bare in field of guls. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry ii. vi. (1660) 70 A Barre is..drawne overthwart the Escocheon..it containeth the fifth part of the Field. Ibid. 91 Termed in Blazon Barres Gemelles of the Latine word Gemellus, which signifieth a Twin. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v., The bar may be placed in any part of the field. 1823Scott Quentin D. II. xviii. 358 My bar sinister may never be surmounted by the coronet of Croye.
7. Farriery.
a. (usually pl.) The transverse ridged divisions of a horse's palate: below those which lie between the molar and canine teeth the bar of the bit is inserted.
b. The recurved ends of the wall or crust of a horse's hoof, meeting at an acute angle in the centre of the sole.
1617Markham Caval. ii. 52 It giueth libertie to the tongue, offendeth not the barres, and keepeth the mouth in tendernesse. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Yellows, After they have blooded the Horse..in the third Bar, on the pallate of the Mouth. 1831Youatt Horse xviii. (1872) 398 Smiths..too often habitually pursue..the injurious practice of removing the bars [of the hoof]. 1884E. Anderson Horsemanship i. v. 17 The curb bit should..take a bearing upon the bare bars of the mouth.
** Of shape and confining purpose.
8. esp. A stake or rod of iron or wood used to fasten a gate, door, hatch, etc.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 131 He..tobrec þa irene barren of helle. c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 884 Steken þe ȝates ston⁓harde wyth stalworth barrez. 1388Wyclif Ex. xxvi. 26 Fyve barris of trees..to holde togidere the tablis. a1420Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1104 And up is broke lok, haspe, barre, and pynne. 1535Coverdale Judg. xvi. 3 Toke holde on both y⊇ syde portes of y⊇ gate..and lifte them out with the barres. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 877 And every Bolt and Bar..with ease Unfast'ns. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Hatch-bars, flat iron bars to lock over the hatches.
9. a. A straight, strong rod of iron or wood fixed across any way of ingress or egress, or forming part of a fence, gate, grating, or the like.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 219 Thurgh a wyndow thikke of many a barre Of Iren. c1440Promp. Parv. 24 Barre abowte a graue or awter. a1658Lovelace To Althea, Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. 1711Addison Spect. No. 57 ⁋3 She..makes nothing of leaping over a six-bar gate. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxii, Like a fine horse brought up to the leaping-bar. 1883Harper's Mag. Sept. 491/1 The cows lowing at the pasture bars.
b. spec. in pl. A set of wooden rails which may be withdrawn to afford an opening through a fence or wall. (Cf. draw-bar.) U.S.
1639in Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1897) VI. 5 All the fences & gates..to the bares shall be sufitiently mad up. 1660in Rec. Providence, R.I. II. 139 Provided that they Keepe a Sufficient inlett of Barres at Each End of the highway for A cart to passe through. 1703Ibid. V. 109 [He] shall set up a Gate, or inlet of Barrs in said fence. 1887M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 315 The younger of the two old women let down the bars which separated the blooming field..from the road, and they passed through.
c. Assoc. Football, etc. = cross-bar 1 a.
1882Blackburn Times 1 Apr. 3/3 Ashton, M'Guire, and Towers completely baffled the backs, a good centre giving Ashton a rare opportunity of scoring, but he sent the ball over the bar. 1894N. Brit. Daily Mail (Glasgow) 9 Apr. 3/6 The ball hit the bar, and after bounding back, went over Haddow's head and right into the net. 1986Football Monthly June 34/2 Rush gave another indication of what was to come later when he headed over the bar.
d. In colloq. phr. behind bars, of a person: in prison, locked away.
[1914W. L. Taylor Man behind the Bars i. 13 A short story read aloud was always a pleasure to the men behind the bars.] 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 151/2 The crimes for which the professionals are behind bars. 1966A. Sachs Jail Diary xxvi. 232 He must know that the career he has chosen will inevitably involve him in spending a large portion of his life behind bars. 1977Borneo Bull. 7 May 10/3 Now Hassan.., who got $50 out of the deal, is behind bars for six months.
10. One of the series of iron rods fixed in the front of a grate or bottom of a boiler furnace to prevent the fuel from falling out.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 13 A course sort of Iron..fit for Fire-bars. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxxi. (1878) 541 Thrust it between the bars, pushing it in fiercely with the poker.
11. A transverse piece of wood making fast the head of a wine-cask. (If a cask is lying horizontal, wine is drawn from ‘below the bar,’ when it is more than half empty.)
1520Whittinton Vulg. 13 b, This wyne drynketh lowe or under the barre, Hoc vinum languescit. 1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 385 All the emptie hogsheads..and (for sixe tunne of wine) so many as should be drunke under the barre. 1611Cotgr., Empeigner le bout d'vne douve, to pin the barre of a peece of caske.
II. That which confines, encloses, limits, or obstructs, with no special reference to shape.
* A material barrier.
12. gen. A material structure, forming a secure enclosure, or obstructing entry or egress; a barrier.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 963 Þe grete barrez of þe abyme he barst vp. 1388Wyclif Jonah ii. 7 The barris of erthe closiden me togidere. 1667Milton P.L. x. 417 With rebounding surge the barrs assaild. 1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. 1024 In equal fight From out the bars to force his opposite. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bar, a boom formed of huge trees or spars lashed together, moored transversely across a port. 1872Browning Fifine cxxii, That caverned passage..a grim Bar-sinister, soon blocks abrupt your path.
13. a. spec. A barrier closing the entrance into a city, formed originally of ‘posts, rails, and a chain.’ Afterwards applied to the gate by which these were replaced, as in Temple-bar, and the Bars or gates of York, etc.
c1220Leg. St. Kath. 2348 Bihefden hire utewið þe barren of þe burhe. 1410E.E. Wills (1882) 16 The Cherch of seynt Clementis wythowtyn Templebarr. 1490Caxton Eneydos lvi. 153 Slawghter made bothe of men and of horses by fore the barres of the towne. 1645E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1647) 35 A house without the Barres at Algate. 1691Ray N. Countr. Wds. 6 Barr, a Gate of a City, as Bootham Bar, Monkbar..in the City of York. 1843Penny Cycl. s.v. York, There are four principal gates, or bars, as they are usually called.
b. A toll-house gate or barrier; cf. toll-bar.
1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, xvii. §1 The said lane called Graies Inne Lane, from Holborne bars northward. 1813Examiner 19 Apr. 243/1 The only light..was that shed by the toll-bar lamp, and..the bar is at a distance of about 150 yards.
†c. A hurdle. Obs.
1641H. Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 15 The seconde thinge belonginge to a barre is spelles..the third thinge belonginge to a barre is a dagger.
d. (Also in Fr. form barre.) A horizontal bar fixed to the wall at waist level, serving as a support for dancers in certain of their exercises.
1883D. Cook On Stage II. i. 4 Then the pupil is taught to stand on one leg while extending the other until the foot rests upon a horizontal bar raised some four or five feet above the floor. 1922Beaumont & Idzikowski Manual Class. Theatr. Dancing ii. i. 33 Generally the bar is of wood, and is fixed to the walls of the practice room in a horizontal position. 1936A. L. Haskell Prelude to Ballet ii. 7 She performs her complicated routine, first hanging on to the barre, wooden counterpart to the hands of a partner. 1968J. Winearls Mod. Dance (ed. 2) ii. 77 Exercises at the barre should be done daily in the same order.
†14. A defensive barrier, a bulwark. Obs.
1603Florio Montaigne i. xlvii. (1632) 154 Having so many Cities, Townes, Holds, Castles, and Barres for his securitie. 1618Bolton Florus iv. ii. (1636) 284 Utica..the other maine fort or barre of Africa.
15. a. A bank of sand, silt, etc., across the mouth of a river or harbour, which obstructs navigation.
1586J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinsh. II. 16/2 The port or hauen of Dublin is a barred hauen, and great ships..doo lie in a certeine rode without the barre. 1621Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 81 Our Pinnace is past o'er The Bar, and rides before the Maiden-tower. 1720Lond. Gaz. No. 5821/1 Three Ships were lost upon the Bar. 1868G. Duff Pol. Surv. 100 Rivers which are, as usual in Japan, obstructed by a dangerous bar.
b. See bar-diggings in 30.
1862R. Mayne Brit. Columbia 65 Bars..all those places where gold is found and worked, on a river's bank, are called by that name.
16. Mus. ‘A vertical line drawn across the stave to divide a musical composition into portions of equal duration, and to indicate the periodical recurrence of the accent’ (F. Taylor in Grove Dict. Mus.); also, the portion contained between two such lines, technically called the ‘measure.’ double bar: two parallel vertical lines, marking the close of a strain or section. attrib. in bar-line.
1665C. Simpson Princ. Mus. 25 Distinguished by Strokes crossing the Lines, which..are called Bars. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. xi. 35 Bars are of two sorts, single and double. The single Bars serve to divide the Time, according to the Measure of the Semibreve. The double Bars are set to divide the several Strains or Stanzaes of the Songs and Lessons. 1779Sheridan Critic ii. i, Will you play a few bars? 1795Mason Ch. Music i. 13 One note in every bar should be accented. 1881Macfarren Counterp. 19 To continue a note for two bars or more is not melody. 1927Grove Dict. Mus. (ed. 3) I. 219/1 A bar..is, literally, the straight line drawn across the stave to mark the metrical accent... In ordinary parlance that is now called the ‘bar-line’. 1959Wimsatt & Beardsley in P.M.L.A. Dec. 589 Music—or at least music with bar-lines..—is precisely a time-measuring notation.
17. in pl. bars: the game of ‘prisoner's base’ or ‘chevy.’ The players, after choosing sides, occupy two camps or enclosures, and any player leaving his enclosure is chased by one of the opposite side, and, if caught, made a prisoner. Still in north. dial.
c1400MS. Cott. Cleop. D. ix. 156 b, Þe children ournen at þe bars. 1450Myrc 336 Bal and bares and suche play Out of chyrcheȝorde put away. 1611Cotgr., Barres, the play at Bace or Prison Bars. a1795Aikin Evenings at H. xvii. 276 At cricket, taw, and prison-bars, He bore away the bell. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. ii. ii. 71 A rustic game called base or bars, and in some places prisoners' bars.
** An immaterial barrier.
18. Law. A plea or objection of force sufficient to arrest entirely an action or claim at law.
1495Act 2 Hen. VII, xxiv. §1 A sufficient barre of the seid atteynte. 1528Perkins Prof. Bk. v. §410 Such assignment shall not be a barre in a ‘Scire Facias.’ 1599Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 42 Pharamond, The founder of this Law and Female Barre. 1641Termes de la Ley 37 b, Barre is when the defendant in any action pleadeth a plea which is a sufficient answer, and that destroyeth the action of the plaintife for ever. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 91/1 It is no bar to the validity of a patent.
19. fig. An obstruction, obstacle; a barrier.
1531Dial. Laws Eng. ii. xlix. (1638) 153 This warranty is no barre in conscience, though it be a barre in the law. 1649Bp. Reynolds Serm. Hosea iii. 40 The special barre and obstacle that keeps men from Christ. 1713Addison Cato i. ii, His baffled arms, and ruined cause, Are bars to my ambition. 1782Burke Penal Laws Wks. VI. 272 Thereby fixing a permanent bar against any relief. 1877L. Morris Epic of Hades ii. 92 Nature..has set this bar Betwixt success and failure.
20. Phrases: † to make bar of: to stop short at. † by the bar: by means of the very obstacle interposed. in bar (of, rarely to): as a sufficient reason or plea (against), to prevent.
c1590Marlowe Jew of M. i. ii, In extremity We ought to make bar of no policy. 1609Holland Amm. Marcel. xxv. ix. 279 By the barre, as one would say, whereof they continued..without taking any harme. 1715Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 92 Their protestation was only in barr to the Lords doing anything besides the trial. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. xii. 414 Danby..pleaded a pardon secretly obtained from the King, in bar of the prosecution. 1842H. E. Manning Serm. (1848) I. xiv. 205 These are the habits of life which are pleaded in bar of the daily worship of God.
†21. A kind of false die, on which certain numbers are prevented from turning up. See barred (dice).
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 55 Certayne termes..appropriate to theyr playing; wherby they wyl drawe a mannes money, but paye none, whiche they cal barres. 1592No-body & Some-b. 1517 Those Demi-bars..Those bar Sizeaces. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Barr Dice, a species of false dice, so formed that they will not easily lie on certain sides.
III. A rail or barrier acquiring from its use special technical significance; the space it encloses.
* In a court of justice.
22. a. The barrier or wooden rail marking off the immediate precinct of the judge's seat, at which prisoners are stationed for arraignment, trial, or sentence.
a1400Cov. Myst. 314 Brynge forthe to the barre that arn to be dempt. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. vii. (1520) 102/2 He was ledde to barre before the kinges justyces. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. i. 12 The great Duke Came to the Bar; where, to his accusations He pleaded still not guilty. 1845Disraeli Sybil 266 Hurried like a criminal to the bar of a police-office.
b. fig. A tribunal, e.g. that of reason, public opinion, conscience.
c1375Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. 1871 II. 186 Ech man mote nedis stonde at þe barre bifore Crist. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 199 All seuerall sinnes, all vs'd in each degree, Throng all to' th' Barre, crying all, Guilty, Guilty. 1665Glanvill Sceps. Sci. xiv. 88 When self is at the bar, the sentence is not like to be impartial. 1724Watts Logic ii. iii. §4 (1822) 236 Calling all the principles of our younger years to the bar of maturer reason. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. i. iv. 24 The Judgment-bar of the Most High God.
23. a. This barrier, as the place at which all the business of the court was transacted, soon became synonymous with: Court; esp. in phr. at (the) bar: in court, in open court. trial at bar: a trial before the full court in which the action or indictment is brought; in England, the Queen's Bench Division.
c1330in Pol. Songs 339 Countours in benche that stondeth at the barre, Theih wolen bigile the. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. i. 160 Seriauntes hij semede · þat seruen atte barre. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. 222 This ȝere [1362] was ordeyned that alle plees at the barre schuld be in Englisch tunge. 1550Crowley Last Trump. 911 Thou wilt stand at a barre ballyng. 1656Cowley Pind. Odes Wks. I. 228 Thou neither great..at th' Exchange shalt be, nor at the wrangling Bar. 1689Tryal Bps., We are very desirous it should be tryed at Bar. 1803J. Marshall Const. Opin. (1839) 2 These principles have been very ably argued at the bar. 1866N. & Q. Ser. iii. IX. 449/2 The first instance of a trial at bar has just occurred at Melbourne.
b. A (particular) court of law, esp. in the phr. to practise at (such a) bar. [Compare 25–26.]
1559[see 25]. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 16 Notwithstanding that they [lawiers] can be present but at one barre at once, yet will they take diuers fees of sundry clients to speake for them at three or foure places in one day. 1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6211/2 They went to the Exchequer Bar. 1841J. W. Orderson Creol. xiv. 152 Who was..expected out to practise at the Barbados bar. 1844Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. xix. §6 (1862) 360, I have practised at the bar of the House of Lords.
** In the Inns of Court.
†24. A barrier or partition separating the seats of the benchers or readers from the rest of the hall, to which students, after they had attained a certain standing, were ‘called’ from the body of the hall, for the purpose of taking a principal part in the mootings or exercises of the house. Obs. See barrister. Hence the phrases:—to be called to the bar: to be admitted a barrister. † to cast over the bar: to deprive of the status of a barrister, to disbar; gen. to reject.
After 1600, when utter-barristers, as well as sergeants and apprentices-at-law were allowed to plead in the law-courts, bar in these phrases seems to have been popularly assumed to mean the bar in a court of justice, outside of which ordinary barristers appear to plead, while King's Counsel and Sergeants-at-Law have places within it. Hence the mod. phrase to be called within the bar: to be appointed King's (or Queen's) Counsel.
c1545[See barrister]. 1574N. Bacon Order of Council [regulating proc. of Inns of Court] in Penny Cycl. III. 504 That none be called to the utter bar but by the ordinary council of the House..in term time. 16082nd Pt. Def. Reas. Refus. Subscr. 160 His note that Zanchy maketh no doubt..maie be caste over the barre. 1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. xxii. 221 If any Clyent bribeth..the Lawier that receiveth, shall be cast over the Barre. 1650B. Discollim. 48, I was call'd to the Barre six yeares agoe. 1701Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 69 A Yorkshire attorney..had his gown pulled off, and he thrown over the bar, for disobeying the rules of that court. 1768Blackstone Comm. iii. xxviii, These [barristers having patents of precedence]..rank promiscuously with the king's counsel, and together with them sit within the bar of the respective courts. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 59 A year or two before Call'd to the bar. 1885Law Jrnl. 13 June 364/1 That his Royal Highness Prince Albert Victor of Wales be called to the degree of the Utter Bar.
25. a. The whole body of barristers, or spec. the barristers practising in a particular court, circuit, or country. (Cf. 23 b.)
1559Ord. Judges in Dugdale Orig. Jurid. (1671) 310 That an exhortation should be given to the utter Barr that none should come to any Barr at Westminster..under ten years continuance. 1695Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 50 The Bar, the Pulpit and the Press Nefariously combine. 1864Times 4 Nov., The dinner to be given by the English Bar to M. Berryer.
b. The counsel retained in a particular case.
1891E. Kinglake Australian at Home 36 He had as strong a Bar as could be retained on his side. 1892Daily News 25 Mar. 5/2 There has rarely been such a Bar in any modern case, either for quantity or for quality. Sir Charles Russell, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, Sir Henry James, Mr. Inderwick, and Mr. Tindal Atkinson were but a few of them.
26. abstractly (combining 23 and 24): Occupation as counsel in a court of justice; the profession of a barrister.
1632Mass. & Field Fatal Dowry i. ii, Your fees are boundless at the bar. 1709Steele & Add. Tatler No. 101 ⁋1 A Lawyer, who leaves the Bar for Chamber-Practice. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) II. 586/2 He cultivated oratory, most particularly that of the bar. 1879Froude Cæsar viii. 84 He chose the bar for his profession.
*** In legislative assemblies.
27. The rail or barrier dividing from the body of the house a space near the door, to which non-members may be admitted for business purposes.
a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. ii. ii, They [the Commons] coming all with him [the Speaker] to a bar which is at the nether end of the upper house. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 349 Giving an account of his government at the bar of the same assembly. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 520 The people of Bristol..sent up a deputation which was heard at the bar of the Commons.
**** In an inn, or other place of refreshment.
28. a. A barrier or counter, over which drink (or food) is served out to customers, in an inn, hotel, or tavern, and hence, in a coffee-house, at a railway-station, etc.; also, the space behind this barrier, and sometimes the whole apartment containing it.
1592Greene Art Conny Catch. iii. 20 He was acquainted with one of the seruants..of whom he could haue two pennyworth of Rose-water for a peny..wherefore he would step to the barre vnto him. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. iii. 74 Bring your hand to'th Buttry barre, and let it drinke. 1712Addison Spect. No. 403 ⁋9, [I] laid down my Penny at the Barr..and made the best of my way to Cheapside. 1835Marryat Jac. Faith. xii, He sees the girl in the bar. 1837Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1871) I. 42 A bottle of champagne was quaffed at the bar.
b. With defining word: a shop counter at which a particular item or group of items is sold. orig. U.S.
1954Word Study Feb. 4/1 In a New Jersey suburban town someone has opened what she calls ‘Mi-Lady's Corset Bar’. From its wares mi-lady probably gets food for thought. 1965Harper's Bazaar May 27 The..stocking bar.
IV. Comb. and attrib.
29. General relations, chiefly attrib.;
a. In sense 1, as bar-lock, bar-magnet.
b. In senses 23–26, as bar-anecdote, bar-oratory.
a.1828F. Watkins Electro-Magnetism 18 A fundamental principle of magnetism may be shown by freely suspending on its centre of gravity an artificial bar magnet. 1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 118 The new bar-suspension-bridge. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. §40. 141 The exact polar arrangement of an ordinary bar-magnet. 1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. xi. §1 The back-actioned lock does not speak so well as the old bar-lock.
b.1755Carte Hist. Eng. IV. 330 The habitual chicanes of bar-oratory. 1820(title) Cut and Come again, or Humorous Bar Anecdotes.
c. In sense 28, as bar-board, bar-boy, bar-counter, bar-girl, bar-loafer (hence bar-loafing adj.), bar-person, bar-snack, bar-staff, bar-stool, bar-window; bar-room, -parlour, barmaid, -man.
1723S. Centlivre Gotham Elect. i. 158 Zome that like your Port Wines still, but very few..as my Bar-board can witness.
1631Heywood Maid of West Wks. 1874 II. 276 The next Vintage I hope to be Barre-boy.
1842Dickens Amer. Notes I. vi. 218 He finishes by leaping gloriously upon the bar-counter, and calling for something to drink. 1945Koestler Twilight Bar 1 (stage direction) At front, left, semicircular bar counter with high bar-stools.
1857C. Kingsley Two Y. Ago III. vi. 165 The bar girl, who knew his humour, came forward. 1870D. J. Kirwan Palace & Hovel (1963) viii. 82 A little girl, with a bold face..acted as a bar-girl. 1963Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Apr. 262/4 Changes in postwar Japan: the popularity of ‘bar-girls’, the modern substitute for geisha. 1968Listener 23 May 657/1 Few Americans now are seen in central Saigon;..respectable girls will now venture down Tu Do Street, which the bar girls have abandoned.
1889G. B. Shaw in Star 30 Aug. 2/3 The mere bar loafers at these concerts. Ibid. 20 Sept. 2/5 The horse-collar bar-loafing buffoonery.
1976Evening Standard 14 June 25/8 (Advt.), Bar person, experienced, required... Barperson required. 1982Financial Times 8 May 9/1 Shop assistants seem more inclined to perform their function, bar persons and patrons more disposed to know you, and at petrol pumps your number plate..attracts suitable comment.
1959in W. R. Bawden Tankard Trails (Charles Wells Ltd.) 96 (Advt.), The Peacock Hotel Mill Street Bedford Bar lunches & snacks. 1969in Ibid. (new ed.) 93 (Advt.), The Duke Inn Kempston... Bar snacks at all times. 1978Morecambe Guardian 14 Mar. 14 (Advt.), Bar snacks and basket meals available. 1986N.Y. Times 29 June x17/6 Lattice House is a recently restored timber-framed pub... Serves real ale, a lunch menu and bar snacks in the evening.
1965J. H. Coombs Bar Service p. ix, Although primarily written for learner bar-staff this manual can be equally valuable to prospective brewery Tenants. 1986Financial Times 24 Sept. i. 17/4 About 100,000 club stewards and bar staff in public houses and clubs learnt yesterday that they face a pay cut before Christmas.
1922Joyce Ulysses 446 Bob Doran, toppling from a high bar-stool, sways over the munching spaniel.
1857Hughes Tom Brown i. iv, The red curtains of the bar-window.
30. Special combinations: bar-armature Electr. Engin., a bar-wound armature; bar-bell, a steel bar weighted with a ball of iron at each end, used as a dumb-bell; bar billiards, a variation of billiards popular in bars and public houses, in which points are scored by striking the object balls into holes in the table, and penalties incurred if the wooden pegs that stand near the holes are knocked over; bar-boat, (a) one marking the position of a bar (sense 15); (b) a boat adapted for carrying goods across the bar of a river; bar-boy, a boy employed to fix and clean the fire-bars of a locomotive engine; bar-button, one in the shape of a bar; bar chart = bar diagram below; bar-code, a machine-readable code consisting of a series of alternating lines and spaces of varying width, used esp. for stock control; cf. Universal Product Code s.v. universal a. 14; hence as v. trans., to mark or provide with a bar-code; also bar-coded, ppl. a., bar-coding vbl. n.; bar-cutter, a shearing machine for cutting metallic bars into lengths; a shearing-machine for cutting metallic bars into lengths; a workman who passes the metal through the machine; bar diagram, a statistical diagram in which numerical quantities are represented by the height or length of rectangles of equal width, drawn usu. side by side along an axis; bar-diggings (see quot.); bar-fee (see quot.); bar-fly, a frequenter of bars; bar-frame, the frame which supports the metallic bars of a furnace; bar-frame (or -framed) a., of a bee-hive: fitted with bars instead of sections; † bar-gate, a barrier-gate; also fig. (cf. sense 14); bar-gemel (see 6); bar-gown, a lawyer's gown, fig. a lawyer; bar graph = bar diagram above; bar-head(ed goose, a goose found in India and Central Asia, Anser indicus; bar-hive, a bar-framed beehive; bar-iron, iron wrought into malleable bars; bar-keel, one composed of rectangular bars of iron or steel; bar-keep U.S., a bar-keeper (for refreshments); bar-keeper, one who keeps or manages a bar for refreshments, who keeps a toll-bar, or keeps guard at a barrier; bar-movement, a type of watch movement in which the upper pivots are carried in bars; bar-parlour, a small room adjoining the bar of a public-house; bar-pin (see sense 11); bar-point, the point or division nearest the bar in the outer ‘table’ of a backgammon board; bar-post, the post which receives the ends of movable bars used instead of a gate; bar-room, the public room containing the bar in a tavern or hotel, a tap-room; also attrib.; bar-share plough, one with a bar extending backward from the point of the share; bar-shear (= bar-cutter); bar-shoe, a horse-shoe with a bar across the hinder part to protect the tender frog of the heel; bar-shot, a double shot consisting of two half cannon-balls joined by an iron bar, used in sea-warfare to injure masts and rigging; bar-silver, silver in bars (cf. 3); so bar-tin; bar-soap, soap made up into bars as distinguished from soap in cakes or tablets; also attrib.; bar-super (see quot.); bar tacker (see quot.); so bar tack, bar-tacking; bar-tailed godwit: see godwit; bar-tracery (see quot.); bar-way, a passage into a field, closed by movable horizontal bars fitted into vertical posts; bar-ways, -wise adv., in the manner of a bar; bar winding Electr. Engin., an armature-winding consisting of metal bars; bar-wound a., of an armature: fitted with bars instead of wires.
1888S. P. Thompson Dynamo-Electric Machinery (ed. 3) 646 (Index) *Bar Armatures. 1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 40/1 Bar armature, a large armature in which the windings are built up of copper bars instead of continuous wire.
1887Hour Glass I. 17 A complete set of dumb-bell, *bar-bell, marching and running exercises. 1895Cal. Univ. Nebraska 1895–6 252 The gymnasium..is well equipped with clubs, wands, bar bells, and dumb bells.
1966T. Finn Watney Bk. Pub Games iii. 21 *Bar billiards is of French origin, reaching this country some years ago, and spreading steadily from urban to rural areas. 1969J. Wainwright Take-over Men viii. 136 Doing!.. What the hell d'you think I'm doing? Playing bar-billiards? 1982Financial Times 3 Apr. i. 15/2 It is hard to imagine some of the other games—bar billiards, eight-ball pool, shove-ha'penny—working very well on the small screen.
1857C. Gribble in Merc. Mar. Mag. (1858) V. 4 The *Bar-boat on he C. W. Bar. 1883C. A. Moloney W. African Fisheries 17 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) Bar-boats of seven to eight tons have been used at Lagos. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 635 [It is] too bad a bar for boats to cross; but a steamer on the Lagos bar boat plan might manage it.
1881M. Reynolds Engine Driv. 7 A *bar-boy..has to creep through the fire-hole door of the engine..to arrange the fire-bars, etc.
1685Lond. Gaz. No. 2072/4 And *bar Buttons on the Coat sleeves.
1914Engin. Mag. Nov. 229/2 The horizontal scale for this curve is exactly the same as for the *bar chart above. 1935N.Y. Times 15 Sept. x. 6/4 Curves and bar charts are not easily remembered because the reader has seen other curves and bars..showing totally different facts. 1962A. Battersby Guide to Stock Control iii. 26 We can draw a conventional ‘bar-chart’ or ‘histogram’ as in Fig. 9 by first grouping the figures into classes or ‘slices’ of the same range. 1985Which Computer? Apr. 53/3 The word processor, for example, can leave space in a document for a bar chart produced by the spreadsheet.
1963W. J. Bijleveld Automatic Reading of Digits vi. 47 Addressograph-Multigraph suggests the use of digits with an external *bar code... The digits with their bar-code to match are shown in fig. 67. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing iii. 62 Certain cash registers can record a machine-readable bar code on the internal control tape with ink. 1978Publishers Weekly 10 Apr. 36 The Council of Periodical Distributors has asked mass market publishers to..‘bar-code’ their books, so that distributors will be able to provide sales and returns information to publishers with greater speed. 1980C. S. French Computer Sci. xv. 85 Optical reading is done by using printed ‘bar-codes’; ie alternating lines and spaces which represent data in binary. 1982Times 23 Apr. 23/2 Manufacturers are bar-coding enough goods to make laser scanning an attractive commercial proposition. 1984Listener 5 July 20/1 Have you ever tried to..talk to Ms. E. Budworth..about ISBN numbers and barcodes?
1973*Bar-coded [see light pen s.v. light n. 16]. 1983Listener 29 Sept. 38/4 With your special receiver and bar-coded Radio Times, you move a light-pen over the code for a selected programme.
1977Grocer 3 Sept. 75/3 Article numbering and *bar coding will offer..important benefits in terms of more efficient stock control. 1980Daily Tel. 14 July 18/4 Bar-coding does away with the costly business of pricing each individual item and provides the customer with a print-out at the till of what was purchased.
a1877Knight Dict. Mech. II. 229/2 *Bar-cutter (Metal-working), a shearing-machine which cuts metallic bars into lengths. 1904Westm. Gaz. 13 June 7/2 He gives bar-cutters an advance of a halfpenny per ton.
1923R. Pearl Med. Biometry & Statistics vi. 109 *Bar diagrams find perhaps their most appropriate field of usefulness in the graphic representation of discontinuous variates. 1956Biometrika XXXXIII. 245 He illustrated his British Family Antiquity with several beautifully executed bar diagrams{ddd}This type of diagram, Playfair conceded, had long been used in chronology.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Bar-diggings, gold-washing claims located on the bars (shallows) of a stream.
1641Termes de la Ley 38 *Barre fee is a fee of twenty pence, which every prisoner acquitted of Felony payes to the Gaoler.
1910Sat. Even. Post 16 July 5/2 Then, after having confessed to so much money, he hastened out, for he wud not be stung by *bar-flies. 1932C. Isherwood Memorial iii. ii. 201 A small market-town, inhabited by commercial travellers,..and other bar-flies. 1944Auden For Time Being (1945) 80 The pay-off lines of limericks in which The weak resentful bar-fly shows his sting.
1881Gardening Illustr. 7 May 123/3 There would be no difficulty whatever in putting swarms of bees into a *bar-frame hive, provided it has a movable top and floor-board. 1892Bar frame [see super n. 4]. 1906Daily Chron. 18 June 6/6 Bar-frame beehives. Ibid. 1 Sept. 6/4 Bar-framed hives.
1600Holland Livy vi. ix. 222 Those two townes stood even against Hetruria, as it were the very keies and *bar-gates [claustra] from thence. 1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 574 Valiantly defending..the Barre-yates and entrance into the Towne.
1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 16 Others believe no Voice t' an Organ; So sweet as Lawyer's in his *Bar-gown. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin i. 4 Troops of Barr-gowns rang'd under her Banner.
1925B. F. Young Statistics in Business xxx. 316 *Bar-graphs in the form of progress charts are used to represent a changing condition such as the output of a factory. 1952Monkhouse & Wilkinson Maps & Diagrams i. 27 Columnar diagrams, sometimes known as bar-graphs, consist of a series of columns or bars proportional in length to the quantities they represent. 1978Gramophone June 122/3 This makes it possible to produce a real-time bar-graph frequency analysis in octave bands displayed on an ordinary television set.
1924Glasgow Herald 29 July 8 The *barhead goose and the ruddy sheldrak collect in flocks on the Tibetan swamps.
1879Encycl. Brit. X. 777/2 The *Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus).
1884J. Phin Dict. Apiculture 70 Bars, strips of wood to which combs are attached, and from which they hang in *bar⁓hives.
1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 57 Infinite quantities of Raw Iron..with *Bar Iron and Wire. 1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 59 The best bar-iron is obtained from Sweden.
1874Thearle Naval Archit. (Adv. Sc. ser.) iv. xvii. 268 The *Bar Keel..is generally of hammered iron, made in pieces as long as can be conveniently forged.
1846Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 4 July 218/2 We embarked..in company with..a *barkeep to mix the l-q-rs. 1902Kipling Captive in Traffics & Discov. (1904) 8 Take away his hair and his gun and he'd make a first-class Schenectady bar-keep. 1918H. A. Vachell Some Happenings i. 2 Hobo listened attentively to the bar-keep.
1712Steele Spect. No. 534 ⁋5, I am..*bar-keeper of a coffee-house. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xxiv. (1804) 160 She..was hired in the quality of bar-keeper. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxi, Securing, through his interest with the bar-keepers and macers, a seat for Deans. 1883Harper's Mag. 820/2 The firm of barkeepers.
1903F. J. Garrard Watch Repairing i. 1 To describe, in general terms, the mechanism of a watch..a Geneva ‘*bar’ movement will be used as an illustration..as its ‘bar’ construction enables all the wheelwork to be seen. 1962E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches 21 Bar movement, early form of partly machine-made watch movement in which bars, or bridges and cocks, are used to hold bearings for one pivot of each wheel, for easy dismantling.
1876E. Jenkins Queen's H. 4 To hold meetings in the *bar-parlour and the coffee-room.
1611Cotgr., Empeigne, the *barre-pinnes of a peece of caske.
1743Hoyle Back-gammon ii. 10 The next best Point (after you have gained your Cinq. Point) is to make your *Barr Point. 1870Bar-point [see point n.1 B. 3 g].
1797J. Hiltzheimer Diary 28 July (1893) 245 Seider's contrivance for bringing water from a spring in his garden, through pipes into his *bar-room. 1809Kendall Trav. III. lxxx. 231 The bar-room of a public-house is what in England is called a tap-room. 1839‘Mrs. Mary Clavers’ New Home i. 9 When my husband..drew with a piece of chalk on the bar-room table at Danforth's the plan of a village. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xvi, Major Pawkins proposed an adjournment to a neighbouring bar-room. 1946Auden Introd. in H. James Amer. Scene p. v, One can easily imagine Stendhal or Tolstoi or Dostoievsky becoming involved in a bar-room fight, but James, never. 1954Encounter Mar. 19/1 Those women in Western movies who share the hero's understanding of life are prostitutes (or, as they are usually presented, bar-room entertainers).
1831Youatt Horse xx. (1872) 437 A *bar-shoe is the common shoe with the heels carried round to meet each other, thus forming a bar. 1832Miss Mitford Village Ser. v. (1863) 343 Colman thinks it's only a prick..and advises one of his bar shoes.
1756Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 506 The great quantity of *bar-shot..which the French fired in upon us, tore our sails.
1824Catawba Jrnl. (N.C.) 26 Oct. 10 [dozen] *Bar Soap. 1872‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It iv. 41 A piece of yellow bar-soap. 1893Earl Dunmore Pamirs I. 64 Some common yellow bar-soap. 1906Westm. Gaz. 25 Oct. 7/2 Bar-soap sellers.
1884J. Phin Dict. Apiculture 70 A *bar super is simply a case or crate in which the honeycomb is hung from bars.
1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §419 *Bar tacker, baists or tacks round button⁓holes of tailored garments, to keep parts together before holes are cut. 1955J. E. Liberty Pract. Tailoring (ed. 2) xi. 204 The Bar Tack is usually done with buttonhole twist. A bar of two or three stitches is formed... It is then worked with a small over stitching from end to end. 1959J. Yates-Benyow Weak & Wicked x. 151 Other unfamiliar-sounding occupations necessary for the output of up-to-date off-the-peg clothing—..bar-tacking.
1828J. Fleming Hist. Brit. Animals 107 L. rufa. *Bar-tailed Godwit.—All the tail-feathers with black and white bands. 1980J. Gooders Bird Seeker's Guide (1981) 106 About 40,000 bar-tailed godwits winter in Britain, mostly in the north-west and east on the larger estuaries.
1746Hanway Trav. (1762) I. v. lxxiii. 336 A quantity of *bar tin.
1861Parker Goth. Archit. (1874) 319 *Bar-tracery, window-tracery which distinguishes Gothic work, resembling more a bar of iron twisted into various forms than stone.
1572J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 130 A Bores head..betwene two dartes *barwaies.
1903F. B. de Gress tr. Arnold's Armature Windings 86 The author uses this kind of *bar winding for 4-pole and other multipolar lighting generators using notched armatures. 1907Hobart & Ellis Armature Construction ix. 227 In such cases it is more usual to carry out the winding as a ‘bar winding’, where the conductors or bars are slipped into the slots from the end, and then connected up into coils by means of separate V-end connectors all the same size and shape.
1864Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. vii. 33 A Riband crossing the shield *bar-wise.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 583/2 If, however, the current in each conductor is large, the drum armature must be *bar-wound. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 76/1 Bar-wound armature, an armature with large sectioned conductors which are insulated and fixed in position and connected, in contrast with former-wound conductors which are sufficiently thin to be inserted, after shaping in a suitable jig.
▸ a. Athletics. In the high jump and similar sports: the bar which competitors must clear for a successful jump.
1869Times 10 Mar. 5 d, On lowering the bar 3in. Scott obtained second prize. 1887M. Shearman Athletics & Football v. 153 If the ‘take-off’ is..so slippery as to make the jumper nervous of falling, he may..jump into the bar instead of over it. 1902Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 18 Nov. 3/4 In the case of a tie the officials shall raise or lower the bar at their discretion. 1968Listener 24 Oct. 560/2 With his incredible ‘Fosbury Flop’ he has invented a technique for clearing the bar which seems to be more efficient than all others. 1996Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) (Nexis) 8 June 8 c, After..clearing 15 feet on his first try, the Edina senior asked officials..to raise the bar six inches to 15-6.
b. fig. A required level of attainment, an expected standard. Chiefly in to raise (also lower, set) the bar.
1976Sun (Lowell, Mass.) 5 Sept. (Sun/Day Mag.) 10/5 Once that goal is reached,..stay at the task until it's consolidated and has proven that it's solid over time. Then set the bar higher and go on to a tougher objective. 1989Toronto Post (Nexis) 5 June a20 Canada Post has also abandoned all thought of same-day delivery of first-class letters... ‘They lowered the bar,..’ says Botting, of the small-business federation. 1993Fort Collins (Colorado) Triangle Rev. 1 Apr. 3/4 It's also time to ‘raise the bar’ on the quality of leadership in Fort Collins. 1993N.Y. Times 3 Nov. b18/4 Expectations were fairly low last time... Now the bar is higher. 2002Daily Express (E. Malaysia) 21 Nov. 22/1 The Bond films, which began with 1962's ‘Dr. No,’ in which Swiss actress Ursula Andress set the bar.
▸ barback n. N. Amer. (a) a piece of furniture designed to stand behind a bar, typically incorporating a counter and storage space as well as decorative elements such as mirrors; (b) an employee at a bar who assists the bartender.
1947Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Jrnl. 23 Sept. 27/2 (advt.) Complete grill and bar equipment, *Bar back, bar booths, cooler, etc. 1974Washington Post 20 July f11/6 (advt.) Bar Porter/Barback—Good pay, annual & sick leave, health & life insurance. 1994Boston Herald (Nexis) 26 Aug. s13 Shiny foil Christmas garlands loop across the mirrored barback. 1999D. LeHane Gone, Baby, Gone (2001) xxix. 329 Pouring beers and shots nonstop, trying to keep abreast of the calls for more.., sending barbacks to wade through the men and sweep up the broken bottles.
▸ bar band n. chiefly N. Amer. a (local or amateur) rock group of a kind that typically performs in bars or other small venues.
1970Washington Post 9 Dec. c1/3 He's played with different local *bar bands..for nearly five years. 1991D. Richler Kicking Tomorrow xx. 344 He snorted at weathered posters glued up around the city for bar bands he knew were doomed to fail. 1994Time 4 Apr. 79/2 But her record company, Warner Bros., eventually dropped her, finding her mix of barband rock and oozy blues tough to market.
▸ barware n. orig. U.S. the articles used in mixing and serving drinks, such as glasses, decanters, and cocktail shakers.
1866Morning Herald (Titusville, Pa.) (Electronic text) 28 Feb. (advt.) E. H. Crittenden is selling $58,000 worth of liquors, cigars and *bar-ware. 1970New Yorker 17 Oct. 128/3 (advt.) The..beauty of..crystal barware. 2005D. Jewel Groom's Game Plan ix. 135 A common mistake: registering for enough barware to fill every joint on Bourbon Street. Before you add on the Brandy snifters, ask yourself, ‘Do I even like brandy?’
▪ II. † bar, n.2 Obs. rare.
[a. OF. bar, ber (also bars, bers):—late L. bāro (also bārus), from the acc. of which, bārōnem, came OF. baron baron.]
By-form of baron.
1297R. Glouc. 544 Ech bar him..out of toune drou.
▪ III. bar, n.3
[a. F. bar ‘the fish called a Base’ (Cotgr.)]
A large acanthopterygious European fish (Sciæna aquila), also known as the maigre.
1724De Foe, etc. Tour Gt. Brit. (1769) III. 341 [In Jersey is found] the Bar, an exquisite Fish, sometimes two feet in length. 1863Life in Norm. I. 166, I sold them all, except one nice bar and a brill.
▪ IV. bar n.4
(= G. berg): see barmaster, barmote.
▪ V. bar n.5 U.S.
Short for mosquito bar. (Cf. mosquito 2 b.) Cf. bear n.6
1847C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness xxiv. 143 Had I not taken with me..bar netting..the creatures would have eaten me. 1866J. C. Gregg Life in Army xv. 140 Nothing can exceed the luxury of lying down inside your ‘bars’ of a midsummer night, and feeling secure from their voracious bills. 1894‘Mark Twain’ Those Twins 415 Get their bed ready..and see that you drive all the mosquitoes out of their bar.
▪ VI. bar, n.6|bɑː(r)|
[f. Gr. βάρος weight; cf. isobar.]
1. A unit of pressure equivalent to one dyne per square centimetre.
1903Richards & Stull New Method determining Compressibility 43 Might not the pressure of a dyne per square centimeter be suitably called a bar?
2. A unit of barometric pressure equivalent to a pressure of 29·53 inches or 750·1 mm. of mercury at 0° C. in latitude 45°. (See also quot. 1918.)
1910V. Bjerknes et al. Dynamic Meteorol. & Hydrography i. i. 7 It will be necessary for us to have names for the employed units of pressure..some name derived from the word ‘barometer’. We shall choose the name bar as being the shortest, and designate the decimal parts of it as the decibar, centibar, and millibar. Ibid., We find that 1 meter of mercury at 0° C. at a place where gravity has this standard value exerts the pressure of 1·333193 bars. 1914Q. Jrnl. R. Meteorol. Soc. Apr. 160, I [sc. Bjerknes] therefore coined the terms ‘bar’, ‘decibar’, ‘centibar’, and ‘millibar’, as names for the units of pressure... I employed these expressions for the first time in a paper published in 1906 [in Beiträge zur Physik der freien Atmosphäre, Strassburg]. 1917A. McAdie in Ann. Astron. Observ. Harvard LXXXIII. 47 The term millibar was unfortunately used by Bjerknes in his ‘Dynamic Meteorology and Hydrography’. He defined the bar as a megadyne atmosphere, seemingly unaware of a prior use of the word by Richards and others in its proper sense. 1918Meteorol. Gloss. 43 Bar..was introduced into practical meteorology by V. Bjerknes, and objection has been raised by McAdie..on the ground that the name had been previously appropriated by chemists to the C.G.S. unit of pressure, the dyne per square centimetre. The meteorological bar is thus one million chemical bars, and what chemists call a bar we should call a microbar.
▪ VII. bar, v.|bɑː(r)|
Forms: 4–7 bare, barre, 7 barr, 4– bar. Pa. tense and pple. barred |bɑːd|, 5–6 bard.
[ME. barre-n, a. OF. barre-r (12th c. in Littré), f. barre bar n.1]
I. To make fast, fasten in, or out, with bars.
1. trans.
a. To make fast (a door, etc.) by a bar or bars fixed across it; to fasten up or close (a place) with bars.
a1300Cursor M. 2788 Faste þe dores gon he bare. c1400Destr. Troy xiv. 6018 The Troiens..tyrnyt the ȝates, Barret hom bigly with barres of yrne. 1530Palsgr. 444/1 He hath barred his wyndowes with yron in stede of lattesses. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 180 A Iewell in a ten times barr'd vp Chest. 1611Bible Neh. vii. 3 Shut the doores and barre them. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Bacler les ports..to bar-in the gun-ports of a ship. 1876Grant Burgh Sch. ii. v. 187 The scholars..barred the School against the master.
fig.1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. xvii, Their hearts with lead, with steel their sense is barr'd. c1750Shenstone Ruin'd Ab. 169 Heard..Heavn's decree With unremitting vengeance bar the skies. 1813Scott Rokeby ii. xi, Hearts..as marble hard, 'Gainst faith, and love, and pity barred.
†b. To surround with a barrier or fence. Obs.
c1430Syr Tryam. 1188 To the felde they farde, The place was barryd and dyght.
2. a. To fasten in, shut up, or confine securely (a person or thing) by means of bars. Also transf. and fig.
c1460Towneley Myst. 28, I was never bard ere..In sich an oostre as this. 1586Warner Alb. Eng. iv. xxii. (1597) 100 And bar him vp in walles. 1661R. Davenport City Nt.-Cap ii. in Dodsl. O.P. (1780) XI. 297, I lock'd him Into my heart, and double-barr'd him there With reason and opinion. 1851H. Martineau Hist. Peace (1877) III. iv. xii. 100 Some peasants barred themselves into the yard of a cottage. 1875B. Taylor Faust ii. iii. II. 127 Efficient bolts they are; The greatest wealth they safely bar!
b. to bar out: to shut out with a bar or bars.
c1620Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 32 Yee grace barre out, and vanitie bolt in. 1680Allen Peace & Unity 73 Sins..for which the Scripture doth expresly bar Men out of the Kingdom of Heaven. 1878G. Macdonald Phantastes iii. 17 Their crowded stems barred the sunlight out. [See barring vbl. n.]
3. To close or obstruct (a way of approach) by some barrier; to block up, make impassable.
1596Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 13 With his bodie bard the way atwixt them twaine. 1673Temple Ess. Irel. Wks. 1731 I. 120 The Haven of Dublin is barr'd to that degree, as very much to obstruct the Trade of the City. 1855Kingsley Heroes ii. 213 Sciron..had barred the path with stones. 1876Green Short Hist. i. §6 (1882) 49 The two forts with which the king barred the river.
fig.1751Johnson Rambl. No. 165 ⁋2 The passes of the intellect are barred against her by prejudice and passion.
4. To obstruct, stop, or prevent (a person's progress, or a person in his progress).
1578Thynne Let. in Animadv. Introd. 59 Since I ame..barred bodely to approche your presence. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 291 What villaine Boy, bar'st me my way in Rome? 1613― Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 17 If you cannot Barre his accesse to th' king. 1634Preston New Covt. 25 Moses..[was] barred from coming into the land of Canaan. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxix, Combined marauders half-way barred egress. 1878B. Taylor Deukalion ii. iv. 82 Bar with fire and steel her entrance.
5. Law.
a. To arrest or stop (a person) by ground of legal objection from enforcing some claim.
1531Dial. Laws Eng. ii. xlix. (1638) 153 Such a warranty shall barre the heire. 1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 15 Shall be a good Title to the Party Registring..and shall Barre all persons whatsoever. 1726Ayliffe Parerg. 158 Such Excommunication..shall not disable or bar his Adversary from his action. 1858Ld. St. Leonards Handy-bk. Prop. Law xxiii. 182 For 20 years' possession by a third person will bar both you and them.
b. To stay or arrest (an action); to exclude or prevent the advancement of (a plea, claim, right.)
1552Huloet, Barre an accion, eximere actionem. 1595Shakes. John ii. i. 192 A Will, that barres the title of thy sonne. 1628Coke On Litt. 372 b, If Tenant in taile..bee attainted of high treason, the estate taile is barred, and the Land is forfeited to the King. 1854Lady Lytton Beh. Scenes II. ii. §12. 222 Settling a nominal sum on her to bar dower. 1884Law Rep. Chanc. Div. XXVII. 530 The Plaintiff's right to set [the deed] aside is barred by laches.
6. a. To hinder, exclude, keep back, prevent, prohibit (a person) from; to deprive or debar of.
1551Wilson Logike Ep. A ij b, From the which they have beene heretofore barred by tongues unacquainted. 1579A. M[unday] in Arber Eng. Garner I. 207 Not to be barred of his enterprise. 1668Child Disc. Trade (1694) 118, I know not why any should be barred from trading to those places. 1678R. Lestrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 275 A Disease..barrs us of some Pleasures, but procures us others. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 505 Last from her own home-circle of the poor They barr'd her. 1870Bryant Homer xvi. II. 120 Lest the enemy seize our ships, and we Be barred of our return.
b. with double object. arch.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 174 He goeth about to barre us our liberty of meeting. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 110, I will barre no honest man my house. 1692R. Lestrange Josephus' Answ. Apion ii. (1733) 867 If they had, they would never have barr'd themselves the Comfort. 1855Singleton Virgil I. 328 For Fates Bar Helenus the knowledge of the rest.
†c. with inf. phr. Obs.
c1555Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 224 Is there anything here that barreth those that be under the patriarch of Alexandria..to appeal to the see apostolic? 1622Dekker Virg. Mart. ii. i. Wks. 1873 IV. 25 She will not bar yeomen sprats to have their swinge.
d. absolutely.
1583Stanyhurst Aeneis i. (Arb.) 34 For to shakhands freendly fear bars. 1624Bedell Lett. iv. 73 Errours..deadly, and such as barre from saluation.
7. To stop, hinder, prevent, prohibit (an action or event).
1559Myrr. Mag., Dk. Clarence lvi. 7 Yll dedes our destinies may barre. 1595Spenser Sonn. xliv, Orpheus with his harp theyr strife did bar. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg i. 600 Ridgy Roofs..can scarce avail To barr the Ruin of the rattling Hail. 1822T. Taylor Apuleius' Gold. Ass vi. 132 Having barred the barking of the dog by..the remaining sop. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. xiii. 363 They bar marriage in the female line.
8. To exclude from consideration, set aside.
1481–90[see barring prep.]. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 208 Nay but I barre to night, you shall not gage me By what we doe to night. 1648Herrick Hesper. I. 225 When next thou do'st invite, barre state, And give me meate. 1718Free-thinker No. 95. 287, I once more bar all Widowers. 1809Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 176/1 We bar, in this discussion, any objection which proceeds, etc.
9. a. To take exception to, object to.
1611Beaum. & Fl. Philaster ii. 25 Good Prince, be not bawdy, nor do not brag; these two I bar. 1808Wolcott (P. Pindar) One more Peep Wks. 1812 V. 355 They call thee a fine China jar: But this I humbly beg to bar. 1903Wodehouse Prefect's Uncle i. 11, I bar the man. He's slimy. 1913C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. xvii. 435 Why, my dear girl, he's absolutely barred. He's as unpopular as anybody I know.
†b. to bar the dice: to declare the throw void. Cf. F. barrer ‘annoncer, quand les dés sortent du cornet, qu'on annule le coup’ (Littré). Obs. See also barred (dice).
1673Dryden Amboyna ii. i, He would have whip'd it up, as his own Fees..but that his Lord bar'd the Dice, and reckon'd it to him for a part of his Board Wages.
II. To mark with or make into bars.
10. To mark with a bar or bars, e.g. with stripes of colour, the ‘bar’ in music, etc. Cf. barred.
c1340[see barred]. c1430Syr Gener. 5636 His shelde was..Barred of asure and of sable. c1440Promp. Parv. 24 Barren harnes, stipo. 1789Burney Hist. Mus. I. i. 7 Some of the letters were also barred..in order to change their symbolical import. 1821Keats Lamia 50 Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson barr'd. 1878Gurney Crystallog. 12 When either h or l is barred.
11. To make into bars.
1712Act 10 Anne in Lond. Gaz. No. 5022/2 All gilt and silver Wire, and Bars..and all..Utensils for barring or drawing such Wire.
12. to bar a vein in Farriery: to disengage the vein of a horse, and tie it above and below a portion which is to be operated upon.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. App. s.v., When horses have got traverse mules, or kibed heels..it is common to barr a vein.
▪ VIII. bar, prep.|bɑː(r)|
[f. bar v., either in imperative, or simple stem; prob. after except, save: cf. barring, excepting, saving.]
a. Excluding from consideration, excepting, except, save, but for. bar none, with no exceptions.
[Cf.1648in bar v. 8.] 1714Mandeville Fab. Bees (1725) I. 306 Charity-boys..that swear and curse..and, bar the cloaths, are as much blackguard as ever Tower-hill..produc'd. 1727Swift To Sheridan Wks. 1745 VIII. 348, I intended to be with you at Michaelmas, bar impossibilities. 1866M. E. Braddon Lady's Mile (ed. 4) II. vii. 192 Your ‘Aspasia’ is the greatest picture that ever was painted—‘bar none’, as Mr. Lobyer would say. 1870Standard 14 Dec., This sortie, bar miracles, has decided the fate of Paris.
b. Esp. in Betting, indicating the number of horses excluded from odds being offered.
1860Hotten Slang Dict. (ed. 2), Bar,..in common use in the betting-ring; ‘I bet against the field bar two’. 1874Ibid. (ed. 3) s.v., ‘Two to one bar one’, i.e., two to one against any horse with the exception of one.
▪ IX. bar
obs. or dial. f. bear barley, and of boar.
▪ X. bar
obs. pa. tense of bear v. and bore v. |