Search Details

Word: barb (lookup usage) (lookup stats)


Meaning:

Noun:

  • A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
  • Armor for a horse, corrupted from bard.
  • botany A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.
  • obsolete A bit for a horse.
  • obsolete A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.
  • ornithology One of the side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.
  • Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen. [Written also barbel and barble.]
  • The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduces from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.
  • The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
  • zoology A blackish or dun variety of the pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.
  • zoology A southern name for the kingfishes of the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States; -- also improperly called whiting.
  • zoology Several species of freshwater fish of the Cyprinid family.

Source: Wiktionary | Src Info »

Proper noun:

  • A diminutive of the female given name Barbara.

Source: Wiktionary | Src Info »

Verb:

  • obsolete To clip; to mow.
  • obsolete To shave or dress the beard of.
  • To cover a horse in armor, corrupted from bard.
  • To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.

Source: Wiktionary | Src Info »