▪ I. barber, n.
(ˈbɑːbə(r))
Forms: 4–7 barbour, -or, 5 -ore, -ur, 6 -oure, 6–7 -ar, 4– barber.
[ME. barbour, a. AF. barbour, OF. barbeor:—L. type barbātōr-em. Barber, rare bef. 1500, is partly due to substitution of -er for earlier our, partly to F. barbier (= It. barbiere):—L. type *barbārius; both f. barba beard.]
1. a. A man, or more rarely a woman, whose business it is to shave or trim the beards, and cut and dress the hair, of customers. (Now largely replaced by hairdresser.)
Formerly the barber was also a regular practitioner in surgery and dentistry. The Company of Barber-surgeons was incorporated by Edward IV. in 1461; under Henry VIII. the title was altered to ‘Company of Barbers and Surgeons,’ and barbers were restricted to the practice of dentistry; in 1745 they were divided into two distinct corporations.
| c 1320 Sir Tristr. i. lxiii, A barbour was redi thare. c 1370 Robt. Sicily 54 They broght a barber hym beforne. 1382 Wyclif Judg. xvi. 19 She clepide the barbour, and he shoofe seven heeris of hym. c 1450 in Wright Voc. (W.) /692 Hec tonstrix, a barbor. 1474 Caxton Chesse 74 For fere and doubte of the barbours he made his doughters to lerne shaue. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 74 If your teeth be verie scalie, let som expert Barber first take off the scales. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 30 For Barbers they vse their women. a 1625 Boys Wks. (1629) 59 Like Barbars, who cut all other except themselves. 1722 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 14 No surgeon to be had but a sorry country barber. 1837 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxvii. 1 He took his seat in a barber's shop. 1841 Dickens Humph. Clock 295, I would suggest that barbers is not exactly the kind of language which is agreeable and soothing to our feelings..I believe there is such a word in the dictionary as hairdressers. |
b. fig. One who clips or cuts short; a curtailer.
| 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iii. ii. Wks. (1616) 554 An excellent barber of prayers. |
c. transf. Applied colloq. to a bitterly cold wind which seems to ‘cut’ the face. Chiefly Canada and N.Z. Also, = frost-smoke (see frost n. 7 c).
| 1830 W. S. Moorsom Lett. fr. Nova Scotia 151 Frozen particles of the atmosphere, aptly termed by the natives ‘the barber’, sweep the surface of the water. 1832 J. M'Gregor British Amer. I. 133 The keen north-west wind, during winter, is often called the ‘Barber’ in America. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 78 In meteorology, barber is a singular vapour rising in streams from the sea surface—owing probably to exhalations being condensed into a visible form, on entering a cold atmosphere. It is well known on the shores of Nova Scotia. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 1 Mar. 10/1 Our searching east winds are nothing in comparison with the Canadian ‘barber’. 1914 J. S. Angus Gloss. Shetland Dial., Barber, a haze which rises from the surface of water with a very keen freezing. 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch) 16 Sept. 15/7 The barber, a very bitter cold wind which blows down the gorge of the Mawhera and afflicts..Greymouth. The miners and drovers used the word in the 'sixties, and it is still in use. 1937 J. Elliott Firth of Wellington i. 22 Here [Grey Gorge] in winter raged an icy blast known as ‘the barber’, for it was as keen as the sharpest razor. |
2. attrib., as in barber fee, barber-surgeon (see prec.), barber-surgery; † barber-monger, a constant frequenter of the barber's shop, a fop.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. (1871) III. 282 Money for barbour fees. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 36 You whoreson Cullyenly Barber-monger, draw. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. viii. 34 A certificate from Barber Chirurgions Hall of his sufficiency. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 358 And like an able text man slits it into fowr, that hee may the better come at it with his Barbar Surgery. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. iii. 62 Eased by this common Barber-Surgeon's remedy. |
3. Special combinations and locutions: barber's basin, a round metal dish with a broad edge having a semicircular opening for the neck, so as to allow the chin to reach into the bowl (still sometimes used as a barber's sign). barber's block, a rounded block on which wigs are made and displayed. barber's chair, the chair common to all his customers, fig. a drab, strumpet (obs.). barber's itch or barber's rash: a disease affecting the face and neck, caused by a fungoid organism resulting from the use of insanitary shaving apparatus. barber's knife, a razor (obs.). barber's music, harsh discordant music, like that formerly produced by customers waiting their turn in a barber's shop, where a musical instrument was provided for their amusement. barber's pole, a pole painted spirally with red and white stripes, used as a barber's sign.
| 1755 Smollett Quix. I. 191 That helmet..which looks for all the world like a barber's basin. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 192 A barber's block for supporting wigs. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. ii. 16 Like a Barbers chaire that fits all buttockes. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iv. i. iii. (1651) 665 A notorious strumpet as common as a barbars chair. 1708 Motteux Rabelais' Pantagr. Prognost. v, Bonarobaes, Barbers chairs, Hedge-whores. 1890 Billings Med. Dict., Barber's itch, tinea barbæ. 1660 Pepys Diary 5 June My Lord called for the lieutenant's cittern, and with two candlesticks, with money in them, for symbols, we made barber's music. 1849 Ld. Braybrooke Pepys V. 221 Decker also mentions a ‘barber's cittern’ for every servingman to play upon. 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1977/4 To be sold in York Building..over against the Barbers Pole. 1906 Daily Chron. 2 Jan. 6/2 A skin complaint known as ‘barber's rash’. |
▪ II. barber, v.
(ˈbɑːbə(r))
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To dress the beard and hair of, to trim. Also fig.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 229 Our Courteous Anthony..Being barber'd ten times o're goes to the Feast. 1816 J. Gilchrist Philos. Etym. 145 Great grammarians..capable of mending our standard compositions, and of barbering them into the fashion. 1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Manley & Corringham, Linc. 15/1, I alus barber my son o' Setterda' neet. 1904 Windsor Mag. Jan. 288/2 These latter [sc. tondeurs] will ‘barber’ a dog for a couple of francs. 1948 Penguin New Writing XXXIV. 29 He advised Father Eudex to barber his armpits. 1963 Times 12 Mar. p. vi/4 Light's noble belt of parklands around the capital has been so barbered and coiffured that rose gardens and ornamental ponds begin to replace gum-trees and native grasses. |
Hence ˈbarbered ppl. a., trimmed or groomed by or as by a barber; also in extended use, of grass, etc.: cut closely.
| 1910 Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 6/1 Arnold..dismissed him [Emerson]..as a barbered and eupeptic Carlyle. 1922 Glasgow Herald 22 Apr. 4 Bijou villas in barbered demesnes. 1947 W. de la Mare Coll. Stories Childr. 166 The trim barbered lawns. |