Also 4–7 barbe. [a. F. barbe:—L. barba beard. Sense 8 is not cited in Fr.; cf. however OF. ‘seetes barbees’ in Godef., and mod.F. barbillon. The appearance of the senses in Eng. did not correspond with their original development in Fr.]
I. A beard, or analogous appendage.
† ǁ 1. The beard of a man. Obs. rare.
c. 1450. Merlin, vii. 117. A gode knyght and yonge, of prime barbe.
1688. Holme, Armorie, II. xvii. 392. The Barbe, or Beard, is all the hair of the higher and lower lips, with Cheeks and Chin.
2. A similar appendage in various animals; e.g., feathers under the beak of a hawk (obs.), the wattles of a cock (obs.), a slender fleshy appendage hanging from the corners of the mouth of some fishes, such as the barbel and fishing-frog.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, B j a. The federis vnder the beke be calde the barbe federis.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 389. The nailes, and clawes of cocks … their barbs & spurs.
1688. Holme, Armorie, II. xiv. 384. The Barb, Lobb, or Beard, is any long skinny substance that proceeds from the Fish Snout or Nose.
1863. H. Pennell, Angler-nat., 119. The barbs or beards … are given to the fish to assist it in feeling its way in deep, and … dark waters.
3. Part of a woman’s head-dress, still sometimes worn by nuns, consisting of a piece of white plaited linen, passed over or under the chin, and reaching midway to the waist.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 61. Do wey your barbe, and shew your face bare.
c. 1450. E. E. Poems (1862), 147. Yowre barbe, your wymppylle and your vayle.
1509–47. in Planché, Brit. Costume (1832), 232. These estates are to wear the barbe under their throats.
1752. Ballard, Mem. Learned Ladies, 16. Wearing of barbes at funerals over the chin and under the same.
1851. Agn. Strickland, Queens Scot., II. 10. Wearing white weeds and barbe.
4. Veter. Surg. in pl. Folds of the mucous membrane under the tongue of horses and cattle, protecting the orifices of the ducts of the submaxillary glands; the disease caused by their inflammation.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 82. The barbes be lyttell pappes in a horse mouth, and lette hym to byte.
1572. Mascall, Govt. Cattle (1627), 73.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. xxxi. 265.
1721. Bailey, Barbes, a Disease in black Cattle and Horses, known by two Paps under their Tongue.
1831. Youatt, Horse, x. (1872), 233. The farriers call these swellings barbs or paps; and as soon as they discover them, mistaking the effect of disease for the cause of it, they set to work to cut them close off.
5. Her. A sepal (pl. the calyx) of a flower.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 127. The Barbes of thys floure … abide alwaies of theire proper coloure, which is greene.
6. One of the lateral filaments or processes from the shaft of a feather, which bear the barbules.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 350. The vane [of the feather] consists of barbs and barbules.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, Introd. 55. The Ratitæ have the barbs of their feathers disconnected.
7. Little roughnesses or ridges produced in the course of metal-working, e.g., by coiners and engravers; bur.
1842. Whittock, Bk. Trades, 214. The scraper … for rubbing off the burr or ‘barb’ raised by the graver on the copper plate.
II. A recurved process. (The earliest sense in Eng.)
8. A sharp process curving back from the point of a piercing weapon (e.g., an arrow or spear, which have two, a fish-hook, which has one), rendering its extraction from a wound, etc., more difficult.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1457. Haled to hym of her arewez, hitten hym oft; Bot … þe barbez of his browe bite non wolde.
1544. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 135. Two maner of arrowe heades … The one … hauyng two poyntes or barbes lookyng backewarde.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), G j b. A rag-bolt is retained in it’s situation by … barbs.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XI. 624. Skill’d in medicine, and to free The inherent barb.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, iv. (1880), 112. Give it a pull so as to embed the barb.
fig. 1777. Sheridan, Sch. Scandal, I. i. 238. The malice of a good thing is the barb that makes it stick.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, I. i. II. 3. Remove the burning barbs of his remorses.
9. Bot. A hooked hair.
1864. in Webster.
1880. Gray, Bot. Text-Bk., 398. Barb, a bristle or stout hair, which is hooked or double-hooked, or retrorsely appendaged at the tip.
III. [Cf. OF. barde ax, Ger. barte ax, ON. barða.]
† 10. The edge of an ax. Obs. rare.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2310. He lyftes lyȝtly his lome, & let hit doun fayre, With þe barbe of þe bitte bi þe bare nek.
