▪ I. barb, n.1
(bɑːb)
Also 4–7 barbe.
[a. F. barbe:—L. barba beard. Sense 8 is not cited in Fr.; cf. however OF. ‘seetes barbees’ in Godef., and mod.F. barbillon. The appearance of the senses in Eng. did not correspond with their original development in Fr.]
I. A beard, or analogous appendage.
† ‖ 1. The beard of a man. Obs. rare.
| c 1450 Merlin vii. 117 A gode knyght and yonge, of prime barbe. 1688 Holme Armorie ii. xvii. 392 The Barbe, or Beard, is all the hair of the higher and lower lips, with Cheeks and Chin. |
2. A similar appendage in various animals; e.g. feathers under the beak of a hawk (obs.), the wattles of a cock (obs.), a slender fleshy appendage hanging from the corners of the mouth of some fishes, such as the barbel and fishing-frog.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans B j a, The federis vnder the beke be calde the barbe federis. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 389 The nailes, and clawes of cocks..their barbs & spurs. 1688 Holme Armorie ii. xiv. 384 The Barb, Lobb, or Beard, is any long skinny substance that proceeds from the Fish Snout or Nose. 1863 H. Pennell Angler-nat. 119 The barbs or beards..are given to the fish to assist it in feeling its way in deep, and..dark waters. |
3. Part of a woman's head-dress, still sometimes worn by nuns, consisting of a piece of white plaited linen, passed over or under the chin, and reaching midway to the waist.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 61 Do wey your barbe, and shew your face bare. c 1450 E.E.P. (1862) 147 Yowre barbe, your wymppylle and your vayle. 1509–47 in Planché Brit. Costume (1832) 232 These estates are to wear the barbe under their throats. 1752 Ballard Mem. Learned Ladies 16 Wearing of barbes at funerals over the chin and under the same. 1851 A. Strickland Queens Scot. II. 10 Wearing white weeds and barbe. |
4. Vet. Surg. in pl. Folds of the mucous membrane under the tongue of horses and cattle, protecting the orifices of the ducts of the submaxillary glands; the disease caused by their inflammation.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §82 The barbes be lyttell pappes in a horse mouth, and lette hym to byte. 1572 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1627) 73. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. xxxi. 265. 1721 Bailey, Barbes, a Disease in black Cattle and Horses, known by two Paps under their Tongue. 1831 Youatt Horse x. (1872) 233 The farriers call these swellings barbs or paps; and as soon as they discover them, mistaking the effect of disease for the cause of it, they set to work to cut them close off. |
5. Her. A sepal (pl. the calyx) of a flower.
| 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 127 The Barbes of thys floure..abide alwaies of theire proper coloure, which is greene. |
6. One of the lateral filaments or processes from the shaft of a feather, which bear the barbules.
| 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 350 The vane [of the feather] consists of barbs and barbules. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 55 The Ratitæ have the barbs of their feathers disconnected. |
7. Little roughnesses or ridges produced in the course of metal-working, e.g. by coiners and engravers; bur.
| 1842 Whittock Bk. Trades 214 The scraper..for rubbing off the burr or ‘barb’ raised by the graver on the copper plate. |
II. A recurved process. (The earliest sense in Eng.)
8. A sharp process curving back from the point of a piercing weapon (e.g. an arrow or spear, which have two, a fish-hook, which has one), rendering its extraction from a wound, etc. more difficult.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1457 Haled to hym of her arewez, hitten hym oft; Bot..þe barbez of his browe bite non wolde. 1544 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 135 Two maner of arrowe heades..The one..hauyng two poyntes or barbes lookyng backewarde. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) G j b, A rag-bolt is retained in it's situation by..barbs. 1791 Cowper Iliad xi. 624 Skill'd in medicine, and to free The inherent barb. 1867 F. Francis Angling iv. (1880) 112 Give it a pull so as to embed the barb. |
| fig. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scandal i. i. 238 The malice of a good thing is the barb that makes it stick. 1875 B. Taylor Faust i. i. II. 3 Remove the burning barbs of his remorses. |
9. Bot. A hooked hair.
| 1864 in Webster. 1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. 398 Barb, a bristle or stout hair, which is hooked or double-hooked, or retrorsely appendaged at the tip. |
III. [Cf. OF. barde axe, Ger. barte axe, ON. barða.]
† 10. The edge of an axe. Obs. rare.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2310 He lyftes lyȝtly his lome, & let hit doun fayre, With þe barbe of þe bitte bi þe bare nek. |
▪ II. † barb, n.2 Obs.
[Corrupted from bard2; perhaps confused with prec.]
A covering for the breast and flanks of a war-horse, originally protective, but sometimes merely ornamental.
| 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 50 Had furnished the horses of the chariot with brasen barbes. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 11 His loftie steed with golden sell And goodly gorgeous barbes. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. vii. 64 Great horse, whereof seauen-score had barbes, and caparisons armed with yron. 1630 Hayward Edw. VI, 32 Their horses were naked without any barbs. |
▪ III. barb, n.3
(bɑːb)
[a. F. barbe, f. Barbarie. (Also called a Barbary.)]
Occas. attrib.
1. A horse of the breed imported from Barbary and Morocco, noted for great speed and endurance.
| 1636 Healey Theophrast. xxiii. 82 Barbes, Jennets, and other horses of price. 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 387 He reins his docile Barb with manly Grace. 1796 Scott Will. & Helen xxxii, Upon my black barb steed. 1823 Lockhart Sp. Ball., Calaynos xxi, Loudly..his mailed barb did neigh. |
2. A fancy variety of pigeon, of black or dun colour, originally introduced from Barbary.
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Pigeon, Many sorts of pigeons, such as..nuns, tumblers, Barbs. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. 16 The barb..instead of a long beak, has a very short and broad one. Ibid. 19 Mongrel barb-fantails. |
3. A black kelpie (see kelpie2). Austral.
| 1926 K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks 209 The barb had never fought in a ring before. 1946 F. D. Davison Dusty (1947) iii. 33 Fine dogs,..black kelpies and red, barbs and border collies. |
▪ IV. barb, v.
(bɑːb)
[a. F. barbe-r (Cotgr.); cf. OF. barbier; f. barbe beard.]
1. a. To shave or trim the beard of (a person). Obs. in general use.
| 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 53 Doe barbe that boysterous beard. 1615 A. Stafford Heav. Dogge 64, I will stare my headsman in the face with as much confidendce as if he came to barbe mee. 1663 Cowley Cutter Coleman St. ii. v. II. 824 Neat Gentlemen..tho' never wash'd nor barb'd. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 206 To Barb..Tondere. 1864 Daily Tel. 15 Feb., Where you can be shaved, or ‘barbed,’ as the locution is, shampooed, tittivated, curled. |
b. absol. or intr. (for refl.)
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 50 Their noble science of barbing. 1665 Pepys Diary 27 Nov., Sat talking, and I barbing against to-morrow. |
2. transf. in various senses: a. To clip (wool, cloth, coin, etc.). b. To mow (grass, etc.). c. To file off the bur or rough edges of metal-work. † d. The specific term for carving a lobster.
| 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, viii. Pream., Great quantitie of Wolls..which ben..barbed and clakked. 1508 Bk. Kerving in Babees Bk. (1868) 265 Barbe that lopster. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, xiii. §1 They [cloths] must be newly dressed, barbed, shorne. 1601 Holland Pliny xvii. xxiii, The small sprigs must eftsoons be barbed (as it were) and shaven clean off. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. i. i. (1616) 608 I'll bring..thy necke Within a nooze, for laundering gold, and barbing it. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. xii. ii. 236 The Mower, who..Wieldeth the crooked Sythe..To barb the flowrie Tresses of the verdant plains. 1863 Sala Capt. Dang. II. vii. 226 Gambling bullies..throwing their Highmen, or barbing gold. |
† 3. fig. a. To give a trimming or dressing to. b. To clip, cut back. Obs.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. vi. §2 Justine having recovered forces lighted on Tiberius and barbed him after the same fashion. 1657 Trapp Comm. Esther ii. 1 Vices may be barbed or benumbed, not mastered. |
4. To furnish (an arrow, hook, etc.) with barbs.
| 1611 [see barbed 4]. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 546 Ratling storm of Arrows barbd with fire. 1759 Mason Caractacus (R.) Haste, Evelina, barb my knotty spear. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds v. 68, I will shew you how the natives barb them [arrows]. |
| fig. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scandal Portr. 232 She barbs with wit those darts too keen before. 1810 Southey Kehama x. xx, Flowers..With their petals barb'd the dart. |
5. To pierce with, or as with, a barb. rare.
| 1803 Miss Porter Thaddeus ix, It is your wretchedness that barbs me to the heart. |
6. To bend into hook form the points of wire teeth used in carding textile fibres.
| 1890 J. Nasmith Mod. Cotton Spinning Mach. 94 There are two evils to be guarded against—the barbing or hooking of the wire points and the striation of the sides of the teeth. Ibid. 95 Striated sides and barbed points are common in this series. |