barber

[ bahr-ber ]
See synonyms for barber on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person whose occupation it is to cut and dress the hair of customers, especially men, and to shave or trim the beard.

verb (used with object)
  1. to trim or dress the hair or beard of.

Origin of barber

1
1275–1325; Middle English barbour<Anglo-French; Old French barbeor, equivalent to barb(e) (<Latin barba beard) + -eor<Latin -ātōr--ator

Other words from barber

  • un·bar·bered, adjective
  • well-barbered, adjective

Other definitions for Barber (2 of 2)

Barber
[ bahr-ber ]

noun
  1. Samuel, 1910–81, U.S. composer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use barber in a sentence

  • The old school Malefactors of Great Wealth had severe and serious barbering.

  • At length the barbering performance was over, and poor Dicky thought that he had got through the whole passage of the equinox.

  • It seems his majesty had hit up the lottery a short time previous for a few hundred and had given up barbering.

    Cape Cod Stories | Joseph C. Lincoln
  • Squaws were made to serve braves, and they were both commanded to take charge of his long, bushy, and decidedly tangled barbering.

    Two Arrows | William O. Stoddard
  • After Mass a good many of them got their hair cut; one or two men can do barbering-work.

  • At that time wigs were worn, and wig-making formed an important branch of the barbering business.

    Self-Help | Samuel Smiles

British Dictionary definitions for barber (1 of 2)

barber

/ (ˈbɑːbə) /


noun
  1. a person whose business is cutting men's hair and shaving or trimming beards

verb(tr)
  1. to cut the hair of

  2. to shave or trim the beard of

Origin of barber

1
C13: from Old French barbeor, from barbe beard, from Latin barba

British Dictionary definitions for Barber (2 of 2)

Barber

/ (ˈbɑːbə) /


noun
  1. Samuel . 1910–81, US composer: his works include an Adagio for Strings, adapted from the second movement of his string quartet No. 1 (1936) and the opera Vanessa (1958)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012