bar

pronunciation

How to pronounce bar in British English: UK [bɑː(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce bar in American English: US [ bɑːr] word us audio image

Noun:

a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter
a counter where you can obtain food or drink
a rigid piece of metal or wood; usually used as a fastening or obstruction or weapon
musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats
an obstruction (usually metal) placed at the top of a goal
the act of preventing
(meteorology) a unit of pressure equal to a million dynes per square centimeter
a submerged (or partly submerged) ridge in a river or along a shore
the body of individuals qualified to practice law in a particular jurisdiction
a block of solid substance (such as soap or wax)
a horizontal rod that serves as a support for gymnasts as they perform exercises
a heating element in an electric fire
(law) a railing that encloses the part of the courtroom where the judges and lawyers sit and the case is tried
Verb:

prevent from entering; keep out
render unsuitable for passage
expel, as if by official decree
secure with, or as if with, bars

Word Origin

bar: bar: [12] The history of bar cannot be traced back very far. Forms in various Romance languages, such as French barre (source of the English verb) and Italian and Spanish barra, point to a Vulgar Latin *barra, but beyond that nothing is known. The original sense of a ‘rail’ or ‘barrier’ has developed various figurative applications over the centuries: in the 14th century to the ‘rail in a court before which a prisoner was arraigned’ (as in ‘prisoner at the bar’); in the 16th century to a ‘partition separating qualified from unqualified lawyers in hall’ (as in ‘call to the bar’); and also in the 16th century to a ‘counter at which drink is served’.Related nouns include barrage [19], originally an ‘artificial obstruction in a waterway’, and barrier [14], from Anglo- Norman barrere.=> barrage, barrel, barrier, barrister, embargo

bar (n.1): late 12c., "stake or rod of iron used to fasten a door or gate," from Old French barre (12c.) "beam, bar, gate, barrier," from Vulgar Latin *barra "bar, barrier," which some suggest is from Gaulish *barros "the bushy end" [Gamillscheg], but OED regards this as "discredited" because it "in no way suits the sense." Of soap, by 1833; of candy, by 1906 (the process itself dates to the 1840s). Meaning "bank of sand across a harbor or river mouth" is from 1580s, probably so called because it was an obstruction to navigation. Bar graph is attested from 1925. Bar code first recorded 1963. Behind bars "in prison" is attested by 1934, U.S.

bar (v.): c. 1300, "to fasten (a gate, etc.) with a bar," from bar (n.1); sense of "to obstruct, prevent" is recorded by 1570s. Expression bar none "without exception" is recorded from 1866.

bar (n.2): "tavern," 1590s, so called in reference to the bars of the barrier or counter over which drinks or food were served to customers (see bar (n.1)).

bar (n.3): "whole body of lawyers, the legal profession," 1550s, a sense which derives ultimately from the railing that separated benchers from the hall in the Inns of Court. Students who had attained a certain standing were "called" to it to take part in the important exercises of the house. After c. 1600, however, this was popularly assumed to mean the bar in a courtroom, which was the wooden railing marking off the area around the judge's seat, where prisoners stood for arraignment and where a barrister (q.v.) stood to plead. As the place where the business of court was done, bar in this sense had become synonymous with "court" by early 14c.

bar (n.4): unit of pressure, coined 1903 from Greek baros "weight," related to barys "heavy," from PIE root *gwere- (2) "heavy" (see grave (adj.)).

vt.