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Barb   /bɑrb/   Listen
noun
Barb  n.  
1.
Beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it. "The barbel, so called by reason of his barbs, or wattles in his mouth."
2.
A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners. (Obs.)
3.
pl. 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. (Written also barbel and barble)
4.
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. "Having two barbs or points."
5.
A bit for a horse. (Obs.)
6.
(Zool.) One of the side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane. See Feather.
7.
(Zool.) A southern name for the kingfishes of the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States; also improperly called whiting.
8.
(Bot.) A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.



Barb  n.  
1.
The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.
2.
(Zool.) A blackish or dun variety of the pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.



Barb  n.  Armor for a horse. Same as 2d Bard, n., 1.



verb
Barb  v. t.  (past & past part. barbed; pres. part. barbing)  
1.
To shave or dress the beard of. (Obs.)
2.
To clip; to mow. (Obs.)
3.
To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc. "But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Barb" Quotes from Famous Books



... By Cupid shot down from above, Which, cut into spots for thy lip, Should still barb the arrows of love. The God who from others flies quick, With us should be slow as a slug; As close as a leech he should stick To ...
— Rejected Addresses: or, The New Theatrum Poetarum • James and Horace Smith

... and many of pearl shell. Of the last, some are like a sort that we saw at Tongataboo; and others simply curved, as the common sort at Otaheite, as well as the wooden ones. The bones are mostly small, and composed of two pieces; and all the different sorts have a barb, either on the inside, like ours, or on the outside, opposite the same part; but others have both, the outer one being farthest from the point. Of this last sort, one was procured nine inches long, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr

... the heart will ask. She could not immediately speak, but with the head of her dying boy upon her heart she sat in mute and unbroken agony, every pang of her departing orphan throwing a deeper shade of affliction over her countenance, and a keener barb ...
— Valentine M'Clutchy, The Irish Agent - The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two • William Carleton

... her ire. Vainly shall you, in Venus' favour strong, Your tresses comb, and for your dames divide On peaceful lyre the several parts of song; Vainly in chamber hide From spears and Gnossian arrows, barb'd with fate, And battle's din, and Ajax in the chase Unconquer'd; those adulterous locks, though late, Shall gory dust deface. Hark! 'tis the death-cry of your race! look back! Ulysses comes, and Pylian Nestor grey; See! Salaminian Teucer on your track, And Sthenelus, ...
— Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace • Horace

... a modern building, possessing no claim to notice; and, except the royal Haras, there is nothing to detain the traveller. Here, however, are some fine horses,—the best amongst them English, except, indeed, a superb black barb, named Youssouf, once the property of an ex-foreign minister more famous in the Tribune than on the Champ de Mars. In consequence, as I was informed by one of the grooms, of the minister's indifferent ...
— Barn and the Pyrenees - A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre • Louisa Stuart Costello


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