barb
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
botany
ichthyology
natural-sciences
ornithology
zoology
Etymology: PIE word
 *bʰardʰéh₂
From Middle English barbe, from Middle French barbe, from Old French barbe (“beard, beard-like element”). Doublet of beard.
Inflected forms:
form: barbs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: barbs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: barbing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: barbed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: barbed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
pos: noun
examples: Having two barbs or points.
gloss: A hurtful or disparaging remark.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: to trade barbs
And she was the only girl in class who did not, sometime through the lesson, get a barb of sarcasm from Miss Brownell, though she made as many mistakes as the rest of them.
“Maybe I just wanted to come and see for myself if you were real. Or if you were a figment of my imagination.” The barb hurt, but she didn't blame him.
His barbs about fake accounts have weakened trust in Twitter, just as the company prepares to moderate heated political discussions about an upcoming election in Brazil and the midterm elections this fall in the United States, misinformation experts said.
gloss: A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
pos: noun
gloss: A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
pos: noun
examples: The barbel is so called […]by reason of his barbs, or wattles at his mouth.
gloss: One of the many side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.
pos: noun
gloss: Any of various species of freshwater carp-like fish that have barbels and belong to the cyprinid family.
pos: noun
gloss: The sciaenid fish Menticirrhus americanus, found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.
pos: noun
tags: US
gloss: A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.
pos: noun
gloss: A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
gloss: Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen.
pos: noun
gloss: A bit for a horse.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: His loftie steed with golden sell
And goodly gorgeous barbes.
gloss: A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging.
pos: noun
gloss: To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.
pos: verb
examples: […] for this day will pour down, / If I conjecture aught, no drizzling shower, / But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.
Undoubtedly—when Ingratitude barbs the Dart of Injury—the wound has double danger in it—
Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
Her coat was a tangled mass, barbed with last year's burs, matted disgustingly with cow dung.
gloss: To cut (hair).
pos: verb
tags: Nigeria
gloss: To shave or dress the beard of.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
gloss: To clip; to mow.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: O thou pale ſober night, / […] / The ſtooping Sitheman that dooth barbe the field, / Thou makſt winke ſure: […]
Related words: beardfish
Derived words: bandula barb
barbate
barbel
barbet
barbless
barblet
barbtail
barbthroat
barbwire
black ruby barb
burnt-tailed barb
debarb
Denison barb
Denison's barb
giant barb
hose barb
interbarb
Java barb
purplehead barb
red-line torpedo barb
rosy barb
silver barb
soldier river barb
spanner barb
t-barb
tiger barb
unbarb
rebarb
Translations: