Loading earlier words…
Barbed

Furnished with a barb or barbs; as, a barbed arrow; barbed wire.

barbell

A bar to which heavy discs are attached at each end; -- it is used for weightlifting exercises.

Barbellate

Having short, stiff hairs, often barbed at the point.

Barber

A storm accompanied by driving ice spicules formed from sea water, esp. one occurring on the Gulf of St. Lawrence; -- so named from the cutting ice spicules.

Barberry

A shrub of the genus Berberis, common along roadsides and in neglected fields. Berberis vulgaris is the species best known; its oblong red berries are made into a preserve or sauce, and have been deemed efficacious in fluxes and fevers. The bark dyes a fine yellow, esp. the bark of the root.

barbershop

a shop where a barber works, especially one where men can get their hair cut.

Barbet

A variety of small dog, having long curly hair. A bird of the family Bucconid/, allied to the Cuckoos, having a large, conical beak swollen at the base, and bearded with five bunches of stiff bristles; the puff bird. It inhabits tropical America and Africa. A larva that feeds on aphids.

Barbette

A mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to fire over the parapet.

Barbicel

One of the small hooklike processes on the barbules of feathers.

Barbiers

A variety of paralysis, peculiar to India and the Malabar coast; -- considered by many to be the same as beriberi in a chronic form.

Barbiton

An ancient Greek instrument resembling a lyre.

Barbotine

A paste of clay used in decorating coarse pottery in relief.

Barcarolle

A popular song or melody sung by Venetian gondoliers. A piece of music composed in imitation of such a song.

Barcon

A vessel for freight; -- used in the Mediterranean.

Bard

The exterior covering of the trunk and branches of a tree; the rind.

Barded

Accoutered with defensive armor; -- said of a horse.

Bardic

Of or pertaining to bards, or their poetry.

Bardiglio

An Italian marble of which the principal varieties occur in the neighborhood of Carrara and in Corsica. It commonly shows a dark gray or bluish ground traversed by veins.

Bardish

Pertaining to, or written by, a bard or bards.

Bardism

The system of bards; the learning and maxims of bards.

Bare

Bore; the old preterit of Bear, v.

bare-bones

having only the absolute minimum necessary; having only the essential components.

bare-breasted

wearing no covering for the breasts or featuring such nudity.

Bareback

On the bare back of a horse, without using a saddle; as, to ride bareback.

Barebacked

Having the back uncovered; as, a barebacked horse.

Barebone

A very lean person; one whose bones show through the skin.

Barefaced

With the face uncovered; not masked.

Barefacedness

The quality of being barefaced; shamelessness; assurance; audaciousness.

Barefoot

With the feet bare; without shoes or stockings.

Barege

A gauzelike fabric for ladies' dresses, veils, etc. of worsted, silk and worsted, or cotton and worsted.

Barely

Without covering; nakedly.

Baresark

A Berserker, or Norse warrior who fought without armor, or shirt of mail. Hence, adverbially: Without shirt of mail or armor.

Bargain

To transfer for a consideration; to barter; to trade; as, to bargain one horse for another.

Bargainee

The party to a contract who receives, or agrees to receive, the property sold.

Bargainer

One who makes a bargain; -- sometimes in the sense of bargainor.

Bargainor

One who makes a bargain, or contracts with another; esp., one who sells, or contracts to sell, property to another.

Barge

A pleasure boat; a vessel or boat of state, elegantly furnished and decorated.

Bargecourse

A part of the tiling which projects beyond the principal rafters, in buildings where there is a gable.

bargello

a needlepoint stitch that produces zigzag lines.

Bargeman

The man who manages a barge, or one of the crew of a barge.

Bargemastter

The proprietor or manager of a barge, or one of the crew of a barge.

Barghest

A goblin, in the shape of a large dog, portending misfortune.

Baric

Of or pertaining to weight, esp. to the weight or pressure of the atmosphere as measured by the barometer.

Barilla

A name given to several species of Salsola from which soda is made, by burning the barilla in heaps and lixiviating the ashes.

Barillet

A little cask, or something resembling one.

Barite

Native sulphate of barium, a mineral occurring in transparent, colorless, white to yellow crystals (generally tabular), also in granular form, and in compact massive forms resembling marble. It has a high specific gravity, and hence is often called heavy spar. It is a common mineral in metallic veins.

Baritone Barytone

A male voice, the compass of which partakes of the common bass and the tenor, but which does not descend as low as the one, nor rise as high as the other. A person having a voice of such range. The viola di gamba, now entirely disused.

Barium

One of the elements, belonging to the alkaline earth group; a metal having a silver-white color, and melting at a very high temperature. It is difficult to obtain the pure metal, from the facility with which it becomes oxidized in the air. Atomic weight, 137. Symbol, Ba. Its oxide called baryta.

Bark

The short, loud, explosive sound uttered by a dog; a similar sound made by some other animals.

Barkbound

Prevented from growing, by having the bark too firm or close.

Barkeeper

One who keeps or tends a bar for the sale of liquors.

Barkentine

A threemasted vessel, having the foremast square-rigged, and the others schooner-rigged. [Spelled also barquentine, barkantine, etc.] See Illust. in Append.

Barker

One who strips trees of their bark.

Barky

Covered with, or containing, bark.

Barley

A valuable grain, of the family of grasses, genus Hordeum, used for food, and for making malt, from which are prepared beer, ale, and whisky.

Barleybreak Barleybrake

An ancient rural game, commonly played round stacks of barley, or other grain, in which some of the party attempt to catch others who run from a goal.

Barm

The lap or bosom.

Barmaid

A girl or woman who attends the customers of a bar, as in a tavern or beershop.

Barmaster

Formerly, a local judge among miners; now, an officer of the barmote.

Barmecide

One who proffers some illusory advantage or benefit. Also used as an adj.: Barmecidal.

Barmote

A court held in Derbyshire, in England, for deciding controversies between miners.

Barmy

Full of barm or froth; in a ferment.

Barn

A child. See Bairn.

Barnabite

A member of a religious order, named from St. Barnabas.

Barnacle

An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and thus restraining him.

Barnburner

A member of the radical section of the Democratic party in New York, about the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; -- opposed to Hunker.

barndoor

An opaque adjustable flap on a lamp fixture; used in photography to cut off light from particular areas.

barnful

The quantity that a barn will hold.

Barnstorm

To travel from place to place, making brief stops.

Barnstormer

An itinerant theatrical player who plays in barns when a theatre is lacking; hence, an inferior actor, or one who plays in the country away from the larger cities.

Barocyclonometer

An aneroid barometer for use with accompanying graphic diagrams and printed directions designed to aid mariners to interpret the indications of the barometer so as to determine the existence of a violent storm at a distance of several hundred miles.

Barogram

A tracing, usually made by the barograph, showing graphically the variations of atmospheric pressure for a given time.

Barograph

An instrument for recording automatically the variations of atmospheric pressure.

Baroko

A form or mode of syllogism of which the first proposition is a universal affirmative, and the other two are particular negatives.

Barology

The science of weight or gravity.

Baromacrometer

An instrument for ascertaining the weight and length of a newborn infant.

Barometer

An instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, and hence for judging of the probable changes of weather, or for ascertaining the height of any ascent.

Barometrical Barometric

Pertaining to the barometer; made or indicated by a barometer; as, barometric changes; barometrical observations.

Barometrically

By means of a barometer, or according to barometric observations.

Barometrograph

A form of barometer so constructed as to inscribe of itself upon paper a record of the variations of atmospheric pressure.

Barometry

The art or process of making barometrical measurements.

Barometz

The woolly-skinned rhizoma or rootstock of a fern (Dicksonia barometz), which, when specially prepared and inverted, somewhat resembles a lamb; -- called also Scythian lamb.

baronduki

same as baranduki; the terrestrial Siberian squirrel.

Baroness

A baron's wife; also, a lady who holds the baronial title in her own right; as, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.

Baronet

A dignity or degree of honor next below a baron and above a knight, having precedency of all orders of knights except those of the Garter. It is the lowest degree of honor that is hereditary. The baronets are commoners.

Loading more words…