barley-corn
(ˈbɑːlɪˌkɔːn)
[See corn.]
1. a. = barley (the plant or grain).
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Sam. xiv. 30 The feelde of Ioab biside my feelde hauynge barli corn [1388 ripe barli]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 25/1 Barly corne, ordeum. 1836 Thirlwall Greece II. xiv. 196 The juice of the vine or the barleycorn. |
b. Personified as John Barleycorn: esp. as the grain from which malt liquor is made.
| c 1620 (title) in Pepysian Library, A pleasant new ballad..of the bloody murther of Sir John Barleycorn. 17.. John Barleycorn in Percy Reliques, John Barleycorn has got a beard Like any other man. 1786 Burns Scotch Drink iii, John Barleycorn, Thou king o' grain. |
2. A grain of barley.
| 1588 Greene Perimedes 15 Preferre not a Barly-corne before a precious Iewell. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 25 A full barley corne will well serve, or a good wheat corne. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 83 A bantam-cock..turning so scornfully from the barley⁓corns which Annie is flinging towards him. |
3. The length of a grain of barley taken as a measure, 1/3 of an inch; formerly also 1/4 of an inch.
| 1607 Recorde Gr. Arts 326 It is ordained that 3 Barly Cornes dry and round, shall make vp the measure of an inch. 1611 Cotgr., Grain..a Barlie-corne, or the fourth part of an ynch. 1688 Holme Armory iii. iii. 136 Barly Corn, is the length of 4 Poppy seeds, and 3 Corns make an Inch. 1729 G. Shelvocke Artillery i. 76 The Barley-corn (the fourth part of an Inch) is subdivided into 5 Poppy Seeds. 1873 R. Broughton Nancy I. 21 If father..move his head one barley-corn, we are all dead men. |
4. Building. ‘A little cavity between the mouldings of joiners' work..made with a kind of plane of the same name.’ Chambers Cycl. Supp. 1753.
5. A gun-sight shaped like an inverted V.
| 1896 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. (ed. 6) xxxi. 736 Military Match Rifles..The fore-sight must be the simple reversed V, or barley-corn military pattern. 1901 Kynoch Jrnl. Apr.–May 76/2 In our opinion the best sights for target purposes are the barleycorn foresight and tangent backsight. 1904 Daily Chron. 10 Dec. 7/6 The Small Arms Committee..were of opinion that the barley-corn should be adhered to pending further trials with the other patterns of foresight. |