Bar"ber*ry (&?;), n. [OE. barbarin, barbere, OF. berbere.] (Bot.) A shrub of the genus Berberis, common along roadsides and in neglected fields. B. vulgaris is the species best known; its oblong red berries are made into a preserve or sauce, and have been deemed efficacious in fluxes and fevers. The bark dyes a fine yellow, esp. the bark of the root. [Also spelt berberry.]
Bar"bet (&?;), n. [F. barbet, fr. barbe beard, long hair of certain animals. See Barb beard.] (Zoöl.) (a) A variety of small dog, having long curly hair. (b) A bird of the family Bucconidæ, allied to the Cuckoos, having a large, conical beak swollen at the base, and bearded with five bunches of stiff bristles; the puff bird. It inhabits tropical America and Africa. (c) A larva that feeds on aphides.
Bar*bette" (&?;), n. [F. Cf. Barbet.] (Fort.) A mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to fire over the parapet.
En barbette, In barbette, said of guns when they are elevated so as to fire over the top of a parapet, and not through embrasures. -- Barbette gun, or Barbette battery, a single gun, or a number of guns, mounted in barbette, or partially protected by a parapet or turret. -- Barbette carriage, a gun carriage which elevates guns sufficiently to be in barbette. [See Illust. of Casemate.]
{ Bar"bi*can (&?;), Bar"ba*can } (&?;), n. [OE. barbican, barbecan, F. barbacane, LL. barbacana, barbicana, of uncertain origin: cf. Ar. barbakh aqueduct, sewer. F. barbacane also means, an opening to let out water, loophole.] 1. (Fort.) A tower or advanced work defending the entrance to a castle or city, as at a gate or bridge. It was often large and strong, having a ditch and drawbridge of its own.
2. An opening in the wall of a fortress, through which missiles were discharged upon an enemy.
{ Bar"bi*can*age (&?;), Bar"ba*can*age } (&?;), n. [LL. barbicanagium. See Barbican.] Money paid for the support of a barbican. [Obs.] Bouvier.
Bar"bi*cel (&?;), n. [NL. barbicella, dim. of L. barba. See 1st Barb.] (Zoöl.) One of the small hooklike processes on the barbules of feathers.
||Bar"biers (&?;), n. (Med.) A variety of paralysis, peculiar to India and the Malabar coast; -- considered by many to be the same as beriberi in a chronic form.
Bar*big"er*ous (&?;), a. [L. barba a beard + -gerous.] Having a beard; bearded; hairy.
||Bar"bi*ton (&?;), n. [L., fr. Gr. ba`rbiton.] (Mus.) An ancient Greek instrument resembling a lyre.
Bar`bi*tu"ric ac"id (&?;). (Chem.) A white, crystalline substance, CH2(CO.NH)2.CO, derived from alloxantin, also from malonic acid and urea, and regarded as a substituted urea.
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Bar"ble (bär"b'l), n. See Barbel.
Bar"bo*tine (&?;), n. [F.] A paste of clay used in decorating coarse pottery in relief.
Bar"bre (bär"br), a. Barbarian. [Obs.] Chaucer.