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Barley
6 dictionary results for: Barley
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
bar·ley1       [bahr-lee] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a widely distributed cereal plant belonging to the genus Hordeum, of the grass family, having awned flowers that grow in tightly bunched spikes, with three small additional spikes at each node.
2.the grain of this plant, used as food and in making beer, ale, and whiskey.
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME; OE bærlīc (adj.), equiv. to bær- (var. of bere barley; akin to ON barr barley, Goth barizeins made of barley, Serbo-Croatian brȁšno flour, L far emmer; all < European IE *bHaer- spike, prickle, perh. akin to beard) + -līc -ly]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
bar·ley2       [bahr-lee] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural -leys. Scot. and North England.
a truce or quarter, esp. in children's games; parley.
[Origin: 1805–15; prob. to be identified with Scots barley, burley, birlie local customary law (Compare birleyman arbiter, birleycourt neighborhood court), var. of birlaw, ML birlawe, birelegia, birelag < ON *býjarlagu, equiv. to býjar gen. sing. of býr town (cf. bower1, byre) + *lagu law1; cf. by-law]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
bar·ley       (bär'lē)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A grass in the genus Hordeum, native to temperate regions, having flowers in terminal, often long-awned spikes.
  2. The grain of H. vulgare or its varieties, used for livestock feed, malt production, and cereal.


[Middle English barli, from Old English bærlic; see bhares- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
barley 
O.E. bærlic, originally an adj., "of barley," from bere "barley" (from P.Gmc. *bariz, *baraz) + -lic "body, like." First element is related to O.N. barr "barley," and cognate with L. far (gen. farris) "coarse grain, meal." In Britain and U.S., the grain is used mainly to prepare liquor, hence personification as John Barleycorn (1620) in popular ballad, and many now-obsolete figures of speech, e.g. to wear a barley cap (16c.) "to be drunk."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
barley

noun
1. a grain of barley 
2. cultivated since prehistoric times; grown for forage and grain 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Barley

Bar"ley\, n. [OE. barli, barlich, AS. b[ae]rlic; bere barley + l[=i]c (which is prob. the same as E. like, adj., or perh. a form of AS. le[=a]c leek). AS. bere is akin to Icel, barr barley, Goth. barizeins made of barley, L. far spelt; cf. W. barlys barley, bara bread. ?92. Cf. Farina, 6th Bear.] (Bot.) A valuable grain, of the family of grasses, genus Hordeum, used for food, and for making malt, from which are prepared beer, ale, and whisky.

Barley bird (Zo["o]l.), the siskin.

Barley sugar, sugar boiled till it is brittle (formerly with a decoction of barley) and candied.

Barley water, a decoction of barley, used in medicine, as a nutritive and demulcent.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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