barb

noun

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   figurativeA hurtful or disparaging remark.

   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.

3. 3

   A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.

4. 4

   A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it. A barbel on a fish's face.

   The barbel is so called […]by reason of his barbs, or wattles at his mouth.

5. 5

   One of the many side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.

6. 6

   Any of various species of freshwater carp-like fish that have barbels and belong to the cyprinid family.

7. 7

   The sciaenid fish Menticirrhus americanus, found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.

8. 8

   A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.

9. 9

   obsoleteA muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.

10. 10

    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.

11. 11

    obsoleteA bit for a horse.

    His loftie steed with golden sell And goodly gorgeous barbes.

12. 12

    A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging.

verb

1. 1

   To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.

   […] 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.

2. 2

   To cut (hair).

3. 3

   obsoleteTo shave or dress the beard of.

4. 4

   obsoleteTo clip; to mow.

   O thou pale ſober night, / […] / The ſtooping Sitheman that dooth barbe the field, / Thou makſt winke ſure: […]

noun

1. 1

   The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.

   Why sends not the Bridegroom his promised gift, / Is his heart more cold, or his barb less swift?

   However, in the last few years, the stud farms in Morocco and elsewhere in the world have rediscovered the qualities of the barb, which, in Berber tradition, remains the king of the "fantasias", a festival that is also becoming fashionable once again.

2. 2

   A blackish or dun variety of pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.

noun

1. 1

   informalA barbiturate.

   The benzos, it turns out, are just as highly addicting as the barbs, but they do have a much lower potential to cause death by overdose. […] The barbs became one of the most widely abused classes of drugs in the 1960s and 1970s.

noun

1. 1

   Armor for a horse.

   The defensive armor with the horses of the ancient knights ... These are frequently, though improperly, stiled barbs.

verb

1. 1

   To cover a horse in armor.

   And now, in stead of mounting barbed steeds / To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, / He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber[…].

Forms

plural

barbs

past tense

barbed

past participle

barbed

present participle

barbing

third person singular

barbs