barbn.1
/bɑːb/, U.S. /bɑrb/ I. A beard, or analogous appendage.† 1. The beard of a man. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > life > the body > hair > hair on lower part of face > [noun] > beard
beardeOE
china1400
barba1500
muzzlea1640
facial hair1830
fungus1904
beaver1910
ziff1919
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin vii. 117 A gode knyght and yonge, of prime barbe.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. xvii. 392 The Barbe, or Beard, is all the hair of the higher and lower lips, with Cheeks and Chin.
2. A similar appendage in various animals; e.g. feathers under the beak of a hawk (obsolete), the wattles of a cock (obsolete), a slender fleshy appendage hanging from the corners of the mouth of some fishes, such as the barbel and fishing-frog.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > family Accipitridae (hawks, etc.) > [noun] > hawk > parts of > feathers
maila1475
barb1486
brails1486
crinet1486
crinel1704
mail-feather1773
crine1855
the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock > parts of > wattles
barb1601
jollop1705
the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > barbel
beard?1527
barbel1601
wattle1655
barb1688
cirrus1753
barbule1848
1486 Bk. St. Albans B j a The federis vnder the beke be calde the barbe federis.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 389 The nailes, and clawes of cocks..their barbs & spurs.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. xiv. 384 The Barb, Lobb, or Beard, is any long skinny substance that proceeds from the Fish Snout or Nose.
1863 H. C. Pennell Angler-naturalist 119 The barbs or beards..are given to the fish to assist it in feeling its way in deep, and..dark waters.
3. Part of a woman's head-dress, still sometimes worn by nuns, consisting of a piece of white plaited linen, passed over or under the chin, and reaching midway to the waist.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > neck-wear > [noun] > clothing for neck and other parts > wimple
wimplea1100
barbetc1320
barbc1374
gorgerc1400
gorget?1578
c1374 G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde ii. 61 Do wey your barbe, and shew your face bare.
c1450 Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 147 Yowre barbe, your wymppylle and your vayle.
1752 G. Ballard Mem. Several Ladies 16 Wearing of barbes at funerals over the chin and under the same.
1834 J. R. Planché Hist. Brit. Costume xv. 232 These estates are to wear the barbe under their throats.
1851 A. Strickland Queens Scot. II. 10 Wearing white weeds and barbe.
4. Veterinary Medicine in plural. Folds of the mucous membrane under the tongue of horses and cattle, protecting the orifices of the ducts of the submaxillary glands; the disease caused by their inflammation.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > disorders of mouth
barblec1440
barb?1523
lampas?1523
giggs1566
rampone1580
camery1587
flap1587
frounce1587
palamie1600
tin-blain1614
lick1827
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [noun] > mouth or type of > tongue or parts of
barb?1523
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bos taurus or ox > [noun] > (miscellaneous) parts of > (parts of) tongue
ox-tonguea1475
barb?1523
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle, horse, or sheep > [noun] > disorders of cattle or horses > other disorders
risen (up)on?1523
barb1721
wire heel1759
blood-stale1816
stale-foul1816
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxii The barbes be lytell pappes in a horse mouth: & lette hym to byte.
1587 L. Mascall First Bk. Cattell i. 73 Sometimes there will grow diseases among them in their mouths, as the barbes and such like.
1610 G. Markham Maister-peece ii. xxxi. 265 The Barbes are two little pappes which naturally do grow vnder euery horses tongue whatsoeuer, in the neather iawes.
1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. Barbes, a Disease in black Cattle and Horses, known by two Paps under their Tongue.
1831 W. Youatt Horse viii. 149 The farriers call these swellings barbs or paps, and as soon as they discover them, mistaking the effect of disease for the cause of it, set to work to cut them close off.
5. Heraldry. A sepal (plural the calyx) of a flower.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > representations of vegetation > [noun] > sepal of a flower
barb1572
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. f. 127 The Barbes of thys floure..abide alwaies of theire proper coloure, which is greene.
6. One of the lateral filaments or processes from the shaft of a feather, which bear the barbules.
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the world > animals > birds > feather > [noun] > part of
pen1381
quill?a1425
dowlc1535
rib1545
web1575
pilec1600
twill1664
beard1688
pinion1691
vane1713
shaft1748
beardlet1804
medulla1826
barb1835
barbule1835
stem1845
feather-pulp1859
aftershaft1867
barbicel1869
filament1870
vexillum1871
scape1872
rachis1874
harl1877
calamus1878
radius1882
ramus1882
scapus1882
cilia1884
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 350 The vane [of the feather] consists of barbs and barbules.
1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life Introd. 55 The Ratitæ have the barbs of their feathers disconnected.
7. Little roughnesses or ridges produced in the course of metal-working, e.g. by coiners and engravers; bur.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > printmaking > engraving > intaglio printing > [noun] > metal plate > bur
barb1842
1842 N. Whittock et al. Compl. Bk. Trades 214 The scraper..for rubbing off the burr or ‘barb’ raised by the graver on the copper plate.
II. A recurved process. (The earliest sense in English.)figurative.1780 R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal i. i. 6 The malice in a good thing is the barb that makes it stick.1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust II. i. i. 4 Remove the burning barbs of his remorses.
8. A sharp process curving back from the point of a piercing weapon (e.g. an arrow or spear, which have two, a fish-hook, which has one), rendering its extraction from a wound, etc., more difficult.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > [noun] > barb
barbc1400
the world > space > shape > unevenness > projection or prominence > sharp unevenness > [noun] > a sharp prominence > barb
barbc1400
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1457 Haled to hym of her areweȝ, hitten hym oft; Bot..þe barbez [MS reads: barbeȝ] of his browe bite non wolde.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 19 Two maner of arrowe heades..The one..hauyng two poyntes or barbes, lookyng backewarde.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine sig. Y2 A rag-bolt, is retained in its situation by..barbs.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xi. 624 Skill'd in medicine, and to free The inherent barb.
1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling iv. 92 Give it a pull so as to embed the barb.
9. Botany. A hooked hair.
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the world > plants > part of plant > hair or bristle > [noun] > hooked hair or barb
tenter1616
tenterhook1665
barb1864
hook1866
1864 in Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang.
1880 A. Gray Bot. Text-bk. (ed. 6) 398 Barb, a bristle or stout hair, which is hooked or double-hooked, or retrorsely appendaged at the tip.
III. [Compare Old French barde axe, German barte axe, Old Norse barða.] † 10. The edge of an axe. Obsolete. rare.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > axe > [noun] > parts of
barbc1400
fawn foot1950
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 2310 He lyftes lyȝtly his lome & let hit doun fayre With þe barbe of þe bitte bi þe bare nek.
Draft additions July 2010
a. U.S. (chiefly regional). Any of various sciaenid fishes of the genus Menticirrhus, found in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, which have a single barbel on the chin. Also called kingfish.
ΚΠ
1866 Athletic Sports for Boys 148 Kingfish, or barb. This is the most spirited fish in resisting capture that can be found. He is only found in New York bay, and there only as an occasional visitor.
1888 G. B. Goode Amer. Fishes 123 The King-fish, Menticirrus [sic] nebulosus, also known as the ‘Hake’ on the coast of New Jersey and Delaware,..the ‘Barb’ about Barnegat,..and sometimes also in the South as the ‘Whiting’.
1925 Copeia No. 138. 4 Below are given local names of fishes used by the fishermen of Sandy Hook Bay..Menticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch and Schneider)—Barb, [etc.].
2003 A. Davidson North Atlantic Seafood (ed. 3) 111 A fantastic wreath of inappropriate names gathered over the kingfish in the nineteenth century. They were called hake or barb (New Jersey and Delaware), tom-cod (Connecticut), [etc.].
b. Any of various brightly coloured tropical freshwater fishes of the family Cyprinidae, esp. of the genera Barbus and Puntius, which are popular as aquarium fish and typically have one or more barbels near the mouth. Frequently with distinguishing word. Cf. barbel n. 1.rosy, tiger barb: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1927 A. E. Hodge Trop. Aquarium-fishes v. 71 Of the Barbs, we will take B[arbus] conchonius as an example.
1961 E. S. Herald Living Fishes of World 118 The old-world barbs are a very large group that has become widely known through the importation of many of the smaller, more attractive species for sale to the tropical-fish hobbyists.
1975 B. W. Halstead & B. L. Landa Trop. Fish 72 ‘T’ Barbs are called Spanner Barbs by the British.
2004 Trop. Fish Jan. 52/4 Classic examples of shoaling fish in the aquarium are the neon tetra and the pentazona barb.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† barbn.2
Obsolete.
A covering for the breast and flanks of a war-horse, originally protective, but sometimes merely ornamental.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > armour for horse > [noun]
trappera1400
habiliment1470
bard1520
bardingc1540
barb1566
cooperison1586
caparison1598
housing1698
barbing1799
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > other cloths
poitrel1490
bard1520
fore-cloth1526
bardingc1540
barb1566
pectoral1602
water-deck1721
rug1790
barbing1799
sweaters1828
quarter blanket1872
quarter cloth1894
peto1957
sweat rug1971
1566 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure I. xi. f. 31v Had furnished the horsses of the Chariot with brasen barbes.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. ii. sig. Ov His loftie steed with golden sell, And goodly gorgeous barbes.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. vii. 481/1 Great horse, whereof seauenscore had barbs, and caparisons armed with yron.
a1627 J. Hayward Life & Raigne Edward Sixt (1630) 32 Their horses were naked without any barbs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
barbn.3
/bɑːb/, U.S. /bɑrb/ Occasionally attributive.
1. A horse of the breed imported from Barbary and Morocco, noted for great speed and endurance.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by breed > [noun] > Barbary horse
barbarian1566
barbary horse1600
barba1610
Barbary1616
a1610 J. Healey tr. Theophrastus Characters xxiii. 82 in tr. Epictetus Manuall (1636) Barbes, Jennets, and other horses of price.
1735 W. Somervile Chace iii. 387 He reins his docile Barb with manly Grace.
1796 W. Scott William & Helen xxxii Upon my black barb steed.
1823 J. G. Lockhart Calaynos in Anc. Spanish Ballads xxi Loudly..his mailed barb did neigh.
2. A fancy variety of pigeon, of black or dun colour, originally introduced from Barbary.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Columbiformes (pigeons, etc.) > domestic pigeon > [noun] > Barbary
barb1725
Barbary1834
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Pigeon Many sorts of pigeons, such as..nuns, tumblers, Barbs.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species i. 16 The barb..instead of a long beak, has a very short and broad one.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species i. 19 Mongrel barb-fantails.
3. A black kelpie (see kelpie n.2). Australian.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > sheepdog > [noun] > kelpie
Australian sheepdog1901
kelpie1907
barb1926
1926 K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks 209 The barb had never fought in a ring before.
1946 F. D. Davison Dusty (1947) iii. 33 Fine dogs,..black kelpies and red, barbs and border collies.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
barbn.4
/bɑːb/, U.S. /bɑrb/ slang.
A barbiturate; a barbiturate tablet. Usually in plural.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > sedatives, antispasmodics, etc. > [noun] > sedative or hypnotic drugs
barbituric acid1866
adalin1911
allonal1921
Soneryl1923
barbiturate1928
sodium Amytal1929
allobarbitone1934
amylobarbitone sodium1945
Tuinal1949
amobarbital1950
quinalbarbitone1951
barb1955
ethchlorvynol1955
thalidomide1958
methaqualone1961
Quaalude1966
non-barbiturate1974
1955 Pacific Spectator Spring 155 I could stand one night without ‘barbs’ or sleep, but the second night I always capitulated.
1975 High Times Dec. 38/3 In one London hospital, 41 out of 59 cases of OD deaths reportedly involved barbs.
1996 M. Burgess Junk (1997) xxv. 231 I took some barbs along to help me through the first night.
2005 V. Reilly in S. Reynolds Rip it up & start Again x. 188 The barbs change people's personalities... You lose sense of reality.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
barbv.
/bɑːb/, U.S. /bɑrb/ 1.
a. To shave or trim the beard of (a person). Obsolete in general use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > cut > a person
dod?c1225
polla1325
topc1330
roundc1450
barb1587
unbeard1598
deplume1775
crop1858
Dartmoor-clip1932
1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 28 Doe barbe that boysterous beard.
1615 A. Stafford Heavenly Dogge 64 I will stare my headsman in the face with as much confidence, as if he came to barbe mee.
1663 A. Cowley Cutter of Coleman-St. ii. v. 18 Neat Gentlemen..though never wash'd nor barb'd.
1693 W. Robertson Phraseologia Generalis (new ed.) 206 To Barb ..Tondere.
1864 Daily Tel. 15 Feb. Where you can be shaved, or ‘barbed,’ as the locution is, shampooed, tittivated, curled.
b. absol. or intransitive (for reflexive).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify the hair [verb (intransitive)] > shave the beard
shavec1405
barb1583
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. G8 Their noble science of barbing.
1665 S. Pepys Diary 27 Nov. (1972) VI. 311 Sat talking, and I barbing against tomorrow.
2. transferred in various senses:† d. The specific term for carving a lobster.
a. To clip (wool, cloth, coin, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > treating or processing wool > treat or process wool [verb (transitive)] > clip
forcec1440
barb1483
bard1641
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > treat or process textile fabric [verb (transitive)] > shear
shearc1340
nap?c1475
barb1535
crop1839
1483 Act 1 Rich. III viii. Pream. Great quantitie of Wolls..which ben..barbed and clakked.
1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII xiii. §1 They [cloths] must be newly dressed, barbed, shorne.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xvii. xxiii The small sprigs must eftsoons be barbed (as it were) and shaven clean off.
b. To mow (grass, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)] > reap or mow a crop
moweOE
reapeOE
cutc1300
sheara1325
barb1652
demess1657
hack1681
1652 E. Benlowes Theophila xiii. ii. 236 The Mower, who..Wieldeth the crooked Sythe..To barb the flowrie Tresses of the verdant Plains.
c. To file off the bur or rough edges of metal-work.
ΚΠ
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist i. i. sig. B2v I'll bring..thy neck Within a noose, for laundring gold, and barbing . View more context for this quotation
1863 G. A. Sala Strange Adventures Capt. Dangerous II. vii. 226 Gambling bullies..throwing their Highmen, or barbing gold.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparation of seafood > prepare seafood [verb (transitive)] > cut up or carve > lobster
barb1508
1508 Bk. Keruynge (de Worde) sig. Av Barbe that lopster.
a. To give a trimming or dressing to.
ΚΠ
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. v. vi. §2. 716 Iustine, hauing recouered forces, lighted on Tiberius, and barbed him after the same fashion.
b. To clip, cut back. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > inflict harm on
endamage1555
barb1657
the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > reduce in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (transitive)] > curtail
wanea889
dockc1380
bridgec1384
abridgea1393
limita1398
syncopec1412
defalk1475
shortena1535
to cut short?1542
royn1573
retrench1587
curtail1589
retranch1589
lop1594
scantle1596
scant1599
scantelize1611
curtalize1622
defalce1651
detrench1655
barb1657
defalcatea1690
razee1815
detruncate1846
to cut down1857
shave1898
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Esther ii. 1 Vices may be barbed or benumbed, not mastered.
4. To furnish (an arrow, hook, etc.) with barbs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > projection or prominence > sharp unevenness > project sharply from [verb (transitive)] > furnish with (a) sharp projection(s) > furnish with barbs
barb1611
1611 [implied in: Bible (King James) Job xli. 7 Canst thou fill his skinne with barbed yrons?
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 546 Ratling storm of Arrows barbd with fire. View more context for this quotation
1759 W. Mason Caractacus 24 Haste, Evelina, barb my knotty spear.
1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds v. 68 I will shew you how the natives barb them [arrows].
5. To pierce with, or as with, a barb. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > make (an opening or hole) [verb (transitive)] > make an opening or hole in or into > bore, pierce, or perforate > with something sharp-pointed > prick
prickOE
pointa1425
joba1500
birlc1540
punct1548
nib1558
pounce1570
punge1570
stab1570
reprick1611
jaga1700
barb1803
jab1825
rowel1891
pinprick1909
1803 J. Porter Thaddeus of Warsaw ix It is your wretchedness that barbs me to the heart.
6. To bend into hook form the points of wire teeth used in carding textile fibres.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > [verb (transitive)] > comb > bend points of teeth
barb1890
1890 J. Nasmith Mod. Cotton Spinning Machinery 94 There are two evils to be guarded against—the barbing or hooking of the wire points and the striation of the sides of the teeth.
1890 J. Nasmith Mod. Cotton Spinning Machinery 95 Striated sides and barbed points are common in this series.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
> as lemmas
BARB
BARB n. /bɑːb/ (also Barb) Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, an organization founded in 1981 to assess the size of the audience for individual television programmes.
/bɑːb/ (also Barb) Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, an organization founded in 1981 to assess the size of the audience for individual television programmes.Π
1982 Daily Tel. 9 Dec. 15/8 When broadcasting overseas the BBC is untroubled by the pedants of Barb.., and invariably speaks in well-rounded million[s].
1982 Listener 16 Dec. 27/3 The homes on the BARB panel don't register time-shift use of video-recorders.
1986 Stage 7 Aug. 18/3 The weekly figures produced for BARB by AGB, show that the Royal Wedding dominated the week's viewing.
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n.1c1374
n.21566
n.3a1610n.41955v.1483as lemmas