▪ I. † ˈbarrat Obs.
Forms: 3–5 baret, 4 -ete, 4–5 -ette, -ett, -at, 5 -ate, -eyt, barret, -ette, 5–6 barrat.
[a. OF. barat (nom. baras) masc. (= It. baratto, OSp. barato, Pr. barat), also OF. barate fem. (= OSp., Cat., Pr. barata) ‘deceit, fraud, confusion, trouble, embarrassment.’ Of doubtful origin: the final -at of OF., and It. -atto, indicate an original a in position, as -att-, -apt- (Godef. has a 14th c. spelling barapt). The original sense in Romanic seems to have been ‘traffic, commerce, dealing’ (P. Meyer). Diez, Scheler, and E. Müller favour a possible derivation from Gr. πράττειν ‘to practise, do business, deal,’ as to which see their works. Chevallet and Stokes compare OIr. mrath, later brath, OBreton brat, later brad, Welsh brad ‘betrayal, treachery,’ as the possible source of the Fr. and thence of the other Romanic forms. Sense 3 cannot be separated from ON. barátta ‘fight, contest, strife, (in deriv.) trouble,’ which appears to have concurrently or independently influenced the Eng. word.]
1. Deception, fraud, fraudulent dealing.
| [1292 Britton iv. iii. §3 Par extorsioun..par barat et par contek.] 1340 Ayenb. 39 Barat, ualshedes and alle gyles. c 1400 Mandeville xxvii. 272 Thei sette not be no Barettes..Cawteles, Disceytes. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 231 Doon in good entent and equyte and without barat. 1503 Sheph. Kal. xlii, A Person with a short neck, is full of fraude, [of] barate, of deception. |
2. Trouble, distress, sorrow, grief, pain.
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 414 ‘Marthe, Marthe,’ cweð he, ‘þu ert ine muchele baret.’ c 1325 Metr. Hom. 124 Baret sal he thol and wa. c 1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 1727 Then saw he hym in gret bareyt And in a fyr to the navylle y-seytt. 1552 Lyndesay Dreme 851 Quho sall beir of our barrat the blame? |
3. Contention, strife, quarrel, fighting.
| c 1300 Beket 703 The King him makede wroth ynouȝ: that so ofte in baret was. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 99 Whan þis barette was ent. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 21 Bolde bredden þer-inne, baret þat lofden. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) ix. xiv. 366 Whiche in fyght & barett lese theyr eyen, theyr feet, theyr hondes. |
▪ II. † ˈbarrat, v. Obs. rare—1.
[? f. barrat n. (in sense 3), or perh. f. barrator; but cf. OF. barater, OSp., Pg., Cat., Pr. baratar, It. barattare to exchange, to cheat, deceive (after sense 1 of the n.).]
To quarrel, strive, brawl. Hence barrating vbl. n.
| 1600 Pory Leo Africa iii. 134 To see how they will barret and scould one at another. 1635 F. White Sabbath Ep. Ded. 7 Senators..with their barking, barrating, and libelling, haue brought..their venerable calling into much contempt. |