Barrow


a flat, rectangular frame used for carrying a load, especially such a frame with projecting shafts at each end for handles; handbarrow.
a wheelbarrow.
British. a pushcart used by street vendors, especially by costermongers.
Archaeology, tumulus (def 1).
Chiefly British. a hill (sometimes used in combination):
Trentishoe Barrow in North Devon; Whitbarrow in North Lancashire.
a castrated male swine.
Also called Barrow-in-Furness
[bar-oh-in-fur-nis] /ˈbær oʊ ɪnˈfɜr nɪs/ (Show IPA). a seaport in Cumbria, in NW England.
Point, the N tip of Alaska: the northernmost point of the U.S.
a town in N Alaska, S of Barrow Point: site of a government science-research center.
Contemporary Examples

Eleanor was even more bitter than her husband, refusing to forgive barrow for his coldness.
The Stacks: The Day Lou Gehrig Delivered Baseball’s Gettysburg Address Ray Robinson July 3, 2014

Since then, barrow has been periodically loved and hated by both sides.
Conservative Southern Democrat John Barrow Hangs on in Hostile Territory Luke Kerr-Dineen November 17, 2012

“These are my guns now,” barrow proclaims in the ad, cocking the gun.
Conservative Southern Democrat John Barrow Hangs on in Hostile Territory Luke Kerr-Dineen November 17, 2012

“I have never been a rubber stamp for any party, any party leadership, or any president,” barrow said at a campaign stop.
Conservative Southern Democrat John Barrow Hangs on in Hostile Territory Luke Kerr-Dineen November 17, 2012

In Republican election committees on the Hill, “barrow” had become a dirty word said only in hushed tones.
How House Dems Lost Their Last Southern White Guy James Richardson November 8, 2014

Historical Examples

It may be ascribed to the heathen times, as well as the construction of the barrow itself.
Notice of Runic Inscriptions Discovered during Recent Excavations in the Orkneys James Farrer

Temple, barrow, etc., have thus been raised to proper names.
Beowulf Unknown

There would be plenty for both to do, what with the stall and the regular round with the barrow.
A Child of the Jago Arthur Morrison

And soil might have been taken from the bottom of this Dorchester barrow which produced them.
Life: Its True Genesis R. W. Wright

It was fast fixed with iron nails upon a barrow, called their fertour.
The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland John Knox

noun
See wheelbarrow, handbarrow
Also called barrowful. the amount contained in or on a barrow
(mainly Brit) a handcart, typically having two wheels and a canvas roof, used esp by street vendors
(Northern English, dialect) concern or business (esp in the phrases that’s not my barrow, that’s just my barrow)
(Irish & Scot, dialect) into one’s barrow, suited to one’s interests or desires
noun
a heap of earth placed over one or more prehistoric tombs, often surrounded by ditches. Long barrows are elongated Neolithic mounds usually covering stone burial chambers; round barrows are Bronze Age, covering burials or cremations
noun
a castrated pig
noun
a river in SE Ireland, rising in the Slieve Bloom Mountains and flowing south to Waterford Harbour. Length: about 193 km (120 miles)
See Barrow-in-Furness, Barrow Point
n.

“vehicle for carrying a load,” c.1300, barewe, probably from an unrecorded Old English *bearwe “basket, barrow,” from beran “to bear, to carry” (see bear (v.)). The original had no wheel and required two persons to carry it.

“mound,” Old English beorg (West Saxon), berg (Anglian) “barrow, mountain, hill, mound,” from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German berg “mountain,” Old North bjarg “rock”), from PIE root *bheregh- “high, elevated” (cf. Old Church Slavonic bregu “mountain, height,” Old Irish brigh “mountain,” Sanskrit b’rhant “high,” Old Persian bard- “be high”). Obsolete except in place-names and southwest England dialect by 1400; revived by modern archaeology.

In place-names used of small continuously curving hills, smaller than a dun, with the summit typically occupied by a single farmstead or by a village church with the village beside the hill, and also of burial mounds. [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]

Meaning “mound erected over a grave” was a specific sense in late Old English. Barrow-wight first recorded 1869 in Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris’s translation of the Icelandic saga of Grettir the Strong.

Read Also:

  • Barrow-boy

    a man or boy who sells wares from a barrow; costermonger. Historical Examples Just wait till I’m herdsman, and then I’ll have a barrow-boy of my own to knock about! The Yellow Rose Mr Jkai The barrow-boy now came up, and announced that from the look-out tree he had seen the other cowherd coming up […]

  • Barrow's goldeneye

    See under goldeneye (def 1). either of two diving ducks, Bucephala clangula, of Eurasia and North America, or B. islandica (Barrow’s goldeneye) of North America, having bright yellow eyes. Also called golden-eyed fly [gohl-duh n-ahyd] /ˈgoʊl dənˌaɪd/ (Show IPA). a lacewing of the family Chrysopidae. noun (pl) -eyes, -eye either of two black-and-white diving ducks, […]

  • Point-barrow

    Also called Barrow-in-Furness [bar-oh-in-fur-nis] /ˈbær oʊ ɪnˈfɜr nɪs/ (Show IPA). a seaport in Cumbria, in NW England. Point, the N tip of Alaska: the northernmost point of the U.S. a town in N Alaska, S of Barrow Point: site of a government science-research center. noun See wheelbarrow, handbarrow Also called barrowful. the amount contained in […]

  • Barrow pit

    a roadside borrow pit dug for drainage purposes.

  • Bar sinister

    Heraldry. (not in technical use) a bend sinister or a baton. the proof, condition, or stigma of illegitimate birth. Historical Examples You display no coat of arms that no bar sinister may be displayed. The Lion’s Skin Rafael Sabatini Also, she thought she was all-white, and never dreamed of a bar sinister. A Son Of […]


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