barley

▪ I. barley
    (ˈbɑːlɪ)
    Forms: 1–2 bærl{iacu}c, 3 barlic, barrliȝ, 4 barlykke, barlich(e, barli, 4–8 barly, 5 berley, berlik, 6–7 barlie, -lye, 8 Sc. barlic(k, 4– barley.
    [OE. bærl{iacu}c, of doubtful composition: bær- seems to point to OTeut. *baroz-, *bariz-, ‘barley,’ the latter of which gave OE. bęre (see bear n.²) with ę as proper umlaut of a; the suffix is evidently -l{iacu}c (see -ly¹), as if bærl{iacu}c meant at first, not hordeum, but hordeāceus.
    Bærl{iacu}c first appears attrib. or as adj. in the name Bærl{iacu}ce-croft; cf. also barley-corn. The notion that l{iacu}c is the word léac ‘leek,’ as in OE. gárléac, ME. garleek, garleke, now garlic, is phonetically out of the question. In bær-, can the vowel æ (for earlier a), instead of ę, be due to early syncopation, bærr-:—barr-, barz-, from baroz-, bariz-? Cf. ON. barr, North Fris. bar, bær. (But ON. barlak, in an Orcadian document, is prob. adopted from OE.) The Rushw. Gloss. has also bæreflór for bęreflór, and late charters bært{uacu}n for bęret{uacu}n.
    966 Cod. Dipl. VI. 79 Bærl{iacu}ce croft. c 1200 Ormin 15511 He fedde fif þusennde menn Wiþþ fife *barrliȝ lafess. (Cf. other attrib. instances under B.)]
    A. 1. A hardy awned cereal (genus Hordeum), cultivated in all parts of the world; used partly as food, and largely (in Britain and the United States, mainly) in the preparation of malt liquors and spirits. a. The plant.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10111 Whete corne wyl nat prykke, As otes dowun, or barlykke. 1382 Wyclif Ex. ix. 31 The flax thanne and barlich [1388 barli] was hurt. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxv, Boþe barley and bere is calde Ordeum. 1483 Cath. Angl. 22 Barly, ordeum. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §28 Barley and otes be moste commonly mowen. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 61 Thy rich Leas Of Wheate, Rye, Barley. 1795 Scots Mag. LVII. 544/1 The barleys are universally a great crop. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 279 Barley is considered to have been the first Cereal brought under cultivation.

    b. The grain. French barley, pearl barley, pot barley; see quots.

1124 O.E. Chron., Man sælde..þæt bærlic þæt is þre sed læpas to six scillingas. c 1220 Bestiary 291 in O.E. Misc. 10 Ðe mire suneð ðe barlic, ðanne ȝe fint te wete. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 133, I bouhte hire Barly [v.r. barliche]; heo breuh hit to sulle. c 1440 Partonope 3760 Brede made of berley or ellis of ote. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §13 That is the worste barley, and foure London bushels are suffycient for an acre. 1769 Sir J. Hill Fam. Herb. (1789) 72 French barley is skinned, and has the ends ground off; the pearl barley is reduced by a longer grinding to a little round white lump. 1857 E. Acton Eng. Bread-Bk. 73 Pot barley is barley of which the outer husk has been removed by mill-stones; it is used for making broth.

    2. transf.

1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 29 Barleys..[are] the little projections formed by the operation of engine-turning.

    B. Comb. and attrib. (In 14–17th c. commonly barli-, barly-.)
    1. General relations: a. objective with vbl. or agent-noun, as barley-buyer, barley-sower, barley-sowing; b. instrumental with passive pple., as barley-fed (1851); c. simple attrib. as, (of the plant) barley-crop, barley-earth, barley-eddish, barley-field, barley-ground (1523), barley-harvest, barley-mill, barley-rick, barley-seed, barley-straw, barley-stubble; (of the grain) barley-bran, barley-chaff, barley-flour, barley-groats, barley-meal (1388); d. attrib. of material (= made of or with), as barley-beer, barley-bread, barley-broth, barley-bun, barley-cake, barley-crust, barley-gruel, barley-loaf (1200), barley-pudding, barley-scon, barley-soup.

1901 Kipling Kim xiv. 367 A drink of chang—the *barley-beer that comes from Ladakh-way. 1906 Daily Chron. 16 Mar. 7/7 Not less than 85 per cent. of the total saccharine yielding materials shall be barley malt. This beer is to be known as ‘barley beer’.

1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 80 *Barley-branne the Ilanders doe vse in stead of salt.

c 1320 Seuyn Sag. 1573 *Barli-bred he et for gode. 1840 Carlyle Heroes ii. 111 His [Mahomet's]..common diet was barley-bread and water.

1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. BA 26, *Barley Broth. Boil a Pound of French Barley in three Quarts of Water, with some whole Spice..put in Raisins..Butter, Rose-water, and Sugar, and so eat it. c 1806 D. Wordsworth Tour Scotland in Jrnls. (1941) I. 281 A fowl stewing in barley-broth.

1552 Huloet, *Barley bunne gentleman..suche ryche niggardes as lyue wyth barley breade, or otherwise hardlye.

1393 Gower Conf. III. 216 Me thought I sigh a *barly-cake. 1846 Grote Greece ii. i. II. 297 His diet of sweet chestnuts, barley-cakes and pork.

1865 Derby Merc. 25 Jan., The straw of a *barley crop.

1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 247 Places for this sport, especially on the *Barley-edishes.

1851 Kingsley Yeast xi. 202 Your *barley-fed hares.

1863 M. L. Whately Ragged Life Egypt xix. 187 *Barley-fields irrigated by a sacchia.

1620 Venner Via Recta i. 18 If..*Barley flower and Rie flower..be added.

1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §10 Thou shalt sowe..thy beanes vpon the *barley grounde.

1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 315 To make *Barley Gruel.

1611 Bible Ruth i. 22 The beginning of *barley haruest. 1930 T. S. Eliot tr. St.-J. Perse's Anabasis 27 Man goes out at barley harvest.

1535 Coverdale Judg. vii. 13 A baken *barlye lofe came rollinge downe.

1488 Act. Audit. 147 (Jam.) Fifty quarters of *berlik-malt. 1620 Venner Via Recta ii. 39 Beere..made of Barly malt alone.

1382 Wyclif Num. v. 15 A mesure..of *barli meele. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 4 Their bread was made of barley meale and goates milke. 1832 Scoreby Farm Rep. in Brit. Husb. (1840) III. 19 They have for the first fortnight boiled potatoes only, then a little barley-meal is added.

1797 Johnston tr. Beckmann's Inventions I. 266 Mills by which grain is only freed from the husk and rounded, are called *barley-mills... The first kind of barley-mills is a German invention. 1840 J. C. Loudon Cottager's Manual Husb. i. 9 The husking can only be well done at a barley-mill.

1820 Scott Monast. viii, The *barley-scones, which..were so good.

1831 Sutherland Farm Rep. in Brit. Husb. (1840) III. 72 The gates are again shut, until the completion of the *barley-seed.

1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery ix. 78 (heading) A *Barley Soup. 1935 Browne & Williams World's Best Recipes 22 (heading) Barley Soup.

1678 Ray Prov. 51 *Barly-straw's good fodder when the cow gives water. 1794 Trans. Soc. Promotion Agric. (U.S.) I. 145 Barley-straw is hearty fodder for horned cattle in the winter. 1837 Flemish Husb. in Brit. Husb. (1840) 59 This is their food during the whole winter with a little wheat or barley-straw. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 263 We'll put a barleystraw in that Judas Iscariot's ear this time.

1733 Tull Horse-Hoing Husb. xi. 50 It has brought as good a Crop of Wheat on *Barley Stubble. 1913 Masefield Daffodil Fields 67 Westward was barley-stubble not yet cleared.

    2. Special combinations: barley-bigg, bigg or bear, a coarse variety of barley; barley-bird, name given locally to various birds appearing about the time of barley-sowing, as the wryneck, siskin, greenfinch, and sometimes the nightingale; barley-bree, -broth, strong ale; barley-candy (= barley-sugar); barley-cracker, a machine or appliance for cracking barley; † barley-cream (= barley-milk); barley-grass, meadow barley; † barley-hat (cf. barley-cap, -hood); barley-hummeller, a machine for separating barley from the awns; † barley-island, an ale-house; barley-itch (see quots.); † barly-lepe, a leap or basket for holding barley; † barley-man, one who received an allowance in barley, hordearius; barley-milk, a decoction or gruel of barley or barley-meal; barley-mood = barley-hood; barley-mow, a stack of barley; † barley-sele (obs. or dial.), the season for sowing barley; † barley-sick, a., intoxicated; barley-straw, (fig.) a trifle; barley-sugar, a confection, usually in twisted sticks, made from sugar, formerly by boiling in a decoction of barley; also attrib., as barley-sugar drop, barley-sugar stick; spec. used to designate features of architecture, furniture, etc., which in shape resemble a twisted barley-sugar stick; barley-wine, a Greek wine or beer prepared from barley; also, a strong English ale. Also barley-cap, -corn, -hood, -water, q.v.

1552 Huloet, *Barley bygge. Vide beerecorne. 1625 Markham Farew. Husb. 135 Barley-big, or beare Barley.

1768 Pennant Zool. II. 310 In Sussex it [the Siskin] is called the *barly-bird. 1863 Yng. England Aug. 127 In the Isle of Wight the bird commonly called the barley-bird is the wryneck.

1786 Burns Scotch Drink xiii, How easy can the *barley-bree Cement the quarrel!

1593 Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (1809) II. 273 The *barley-broath aboue all other, did beare away the bell, and..neither grape nor berry might be compared to the maiestie of the mault. 1884 Black Jud. Shaks. xxxi, A cupful of barley-broth will do thee no harm.

1883 Harper's Mag., Jan. 277/1 *Barley-candy statuettes.

1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 131 The motion is communicated by a belt to the *barley-cracker.

1694 Westmacott Script. Herb. 17 Ptisan was a meat of the Antients which we now call *Barly-Cream.

1795 W. Winterbotham Hist. View U.S. III. 401 Those which are found most common are..*Barley grass, Hordeum pratense. 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxii. 294 Barley grass..Throughout Colonies, except Tasmania.

c 1500 Blowbols Test. in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 105 They that be manly in dronkenesse for to fyte, Whan one ther hede is sett a *barly-hate.

1851 Househ. Words III. 358 The chaff-cutter, the *barley-hummeller.

a 1640 Day Peregr. Schol. (1881) 72 Goeing to take in fresh water at the *Barlie Iland.

1928 Daily Express 28 Nov. 4 It [sc. baker's itch] is similar to the affection from which millers suffer under the name of ‘*barley itch’, due to a small parasite which preys on the larvae of small moths which infest the grain. 1961 Brit. Med. Dict. 772 Barley itch, 1. Grain itch..2. A sensitivity to the plant Mucuna pruriens, which grows among the barley, and sheds irritant hairs.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 25 *Barly lepe, to kepe yn corne, cumera.

1601 Holland Pliny I. 561 Sword-fencers, who vpon their allowance or pension giuen them in barly, were called Hordearij, (i. *Barley-men).

1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 303 *Barly milk, or juyce called of the old Writers..Cremor Ptisanæ. 1846 ‘A Lady’ Jewish Manual 178 Barley Milk. Boil..pearl barley..in new milk..sweeten.

1790 Morrison Poems 151 (Jam.) Hame the husband comes just roarin' fu'; Nor can she please him in his *barlic mood.

1714 Gay Sheph. Week Pastoral v. 75 Whenever by yon *Barley Mow I pass.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 25 *Barly-sele, tempus ordeacium.

a 1721 Prior Turtle & Sp. (R.) She..could plead the law, And quarrel for a *barley-straw. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 303 Barley-straw melts into a glass of a topaz yellow colour.

1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 55 *Barley-Sugar is made either of white Sugar or brown. 1819 Keats Let. 12 Apr. (1958) II. 52 As fine as barley sugar drops are to a schoolboy's tongue. 1859 L. Wraxall tr. Robert-Houdin's Mem. II. xii. 257 The confectioner had exchanged the barley-sugar stick for the magician's wand. 1883 Knowledge 6 July 3/2 ‘Barley-sugar’..was prepared by boiling down ordinary sugar in a decoction of pearl barley. 1936 W. de la Mare Wind Blows Over 239 The barley-sugar-legged walnut prie-dieu at her bedside. 1937 Archit. Rev. LXXXII. 63/2 The altars and chapels are there in both cases, but in Lecce the ‘barley sugar’ columns are of stone. 1939 G. Greene Lawless Roads x. 233 Barley-sugar pillars up the fa{cced}ade.

1728 E. Smith Compleat Housewife (ed. 2) 208 To make *Barley-wine. Take..Barley..boil it..mix it with..White Wine..Borage water..Cluny-water..Lemons..Sugar..bottle it up. 1820 F. Accum Art of Brewing 1 The ancient Greek writers gave the name of barley wine to malt liquors. 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxx. IX. 144 A sort of barley-wine or beer in tubs, with the grains of barley on the surface. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 21/1 Burton and barley-wine are strong ales. 1953 Word for Word (Whitbread & Co.) 11/2 Barley broth, a form of strong ale (also barley wine..).

▪ II. ˈbarley, int. Sc. and north. dial.
    [perh. a corruption of F. parlez, Eng. parley.]
    Parley, truce, quarter; ‘a term used in the games of children, when a truce is demanded’ (Jamieson).

1814 Scott Wav. xlii, A proper lad o' his quarters, that will not cry barley in a brulzie.

Oxford English Dictionary