bar Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter
    taproom; barroom; saloon; ginmill.
    • he drowned his sorrows in whiskey at the bar
  2. noun a counter where you can obtain food or drink
    • he bought a hot dog and a coke at the bar
  3. noun a rigid piece of metal or wood; usually used as a fastening or obstruction or weapon
    • there were bars in the windows to prevent escape
  4. noun musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats
    measure.
    • the orchestra omitted the last twelve bars of the song
  5. noun an obstruction (usually metal) placed at the top of a goal
    • it was an excellent kick but the ball hit the bar
  6. noun the act of preventing
    prevention.
    • there was no bar against leaving
    • money was allocated to study the cause and prevention of influenza
  7. noun (meteorology) a unit of pressure equal to a million dynes per square centimeter
    • unfortunately some writers have used bar for one dyne per square centimeter
  8. noun a submerged (or partly submerged) ridge in a river or along a shore
    • the boat ran aground on a submerged bar in the river
  9. noun the body of individuals qualified to practice law in a particular jurisdiction
    legal profession; legal community.
    • he was admitted to the bar in New Jersey
  10. noun a narrow marking of a different color or texture from the background
    streak; stripe.
    • a green toad with small black stripes or bars
    • may the Stars and Stripes forever wave
  11. noun a block of solid substance (such as soap or wax)
    cake.
    • a bar of chocolate
  12. noun a portable .30 caliber automatic rifle operated by gas pressure and fed by cartridges from a magazine; used by United States troops in World War I and in World War II and in the Korean War
    Browning automatic rifle.
  13. noun a horizontal rod that serves as a support for gymnasts as they perform exercises
  14. noun a heating element in an electric fire
    • an electric fire with three bars
  15. noun (law) a railing that encloses the part of the courtroom where the judges and lawyers sit and the case is tried
    • spectators were not allowed past the bar
  16. verb prevent from entering; keep out
    debar; exclude.
    • He was barred from membership in the club
  17. verb render unsuitable for passage
    block up; stop; blockade; barricade; block off; block.
    • block the way
    • barricade the streets
    • stop the busy road
  18. verb expel, as if by official decree
    relegate; banish.
    • he was banished from his own country
  19. verb secure with, or as if with, bars
    • He barred the door

WordNet

Bar noun
Etymology
OE. barre, F. barre, fr. LL. barra, W. bar the branch of a tree, bar, baren branch, Gael. & Ir. barra bar. 91.
Definitions
  1. A piece of wood, metal, or other material, long in proportion to its breadth or thickness, used as a lever and for various other purposes, but especially for a hindrance, obstruction, or fastening; as, the bars of a fence or gate; the bar of a door.
    Thou shalt make bars of shittim wood. Ex. xxvi. 26.
  2. An indefinite quantity of some substance, so shaped as to be long in proportion to its breadth and thickness; as, a bar of gold or of lead; a bar of soap.
  3. Anything which obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier.
    Must I new bars to my own joy create? Dryden.
  4. A bank of sand, gravel, or other matter, esp. at the mouth of a river or harbor, obstructing navigation.
  5. Any railing that divides a room, or office, or hall of assembly, in order to reserve a space for those having special privileges; as, the bar of the House of Commons.
  6. (Law) (a) The railing that incloses the place which counsel occupy in courts of justice. Hence, the phrase at the bar of the court signifies in open court. (b) The place in court where prisoners are stationed for arraignment, trial, or sentence. (c) The whole body of lawyers licensed in a court or district; the legal profession. (d) A special plea constituting a sufficient answer to plaintiff's action.
  7. Any tribunal; as, the bar of public opinion; the bar of God.
  8. A barrier or counter, over which liquors and food are passed to customers; hence, the portion of the room behind the counter where liquors for sale are kept.
  9. (Her.) An ordinary, like a fess but narrower, occupying only one fifth part of the field.
  10. A broad shaft, or band, or stripe; as, a bar of light; a bar of color.
  11. (Mus.) A vertical line across the staff. Bars divide the staff into spaces which represent measures, and are themselves called measures. ✍ A double bar marks the end of a strain or main division of a movement, or of a whole piece of music; in psalmody, it marks the end of a line of poetry. The term bar is very often loosely used for measure, i.e., for such length of music, or of silence, as is included between one bar and the next; as, a passage of eight bars; two bars' rest.
  12. (Far.) pl. (a) The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed. (b) The part of the crust of a horse's hoof which is bent inwards towards the frog at the heel on each side, and extends into the center of the sole.
  13. (Mining) (a) A drilling or tamping rod. (b) A vein or dike crossing a lode.
  14. (Arch.) (a) A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town. (b) A slender strip of wood which divides and supports the glass of a window; a sash bar.
Bar transitive verb
Etymology
F. barrer. See Bar, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Barred (); present participle & verbal noun Barring
Definitions
  1. To fasten with a bar; as, to bar a door or gate.
  2. To restrict or confine, as if by a bar; to hinder; to obstruct; to prevent; to prohibit; as, to bar the entrance of evil; distance bars our intercourse; the statute bars my right; the right is barred by time; a release bars the plaintiff's recovery; -- sometimes with up.
    He barely looked the idea in the face, and hastened to bar it in its dungeon. Hawthorne.
  3. To except; to exclude by exception.
    Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gauge me By what we do to-night. Shak.
  4. To cross with one or more stripes or lines.
    For the sake of distinguishing the feet more clearly, I have barred them singly. Burney.

Webster 1913