barn
pronunciation
How to pronounce barn in British English:
UK [bɑːn]
How to pronounce barn in American English:
US [bɑːrn]
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- Noun:
- an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals
- (physics) a unit of nuclear cross section; the effective circular area that one particle presents to another as a target for an encounter
Word Origin
- barn (n.)
- Old English bereærn "barn," literally "barley house," from bere "barley" (see barley) + aern "house," metathesized from *rann, *rasn (cognates: Old Norse rann, Gothic razn "house," Old English rest "resting place;" sealtærn "saltworks"). Barley was not always the only crop grown as the data recovered at Bishopstone might suggest but it is always the most commonly represented, followed by wheat and then rye and oats. [C.J. Arnold, "An Archaeology of the Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms," 1988, p.36] Another word for "barn" in Old English was beretun, "barley enclosure" (from tun "enclosure, house"), which accounts for the many Barton place names on the English map, and the common surname. Barn door used figuratively for "broad target" and "great size" since 1540s.
Example
- 1. The barn moves all alone in the growing storm .
- 2. With the help of family members , the barn was completed .
- 3. Nothing typifies america 's pastoral ideal like a big old barn .
- 4. His chestnut mare was enclosed in a small area behind the town 's blacksmith barn .
- 5. Painting a barn with rusty paint was the best way to keep it strong and dry .