The word with the bark on it, phr. (American).—Without mincing the
matter; without circumlocution.
1872. Mark Twain, Roughing It, chap. xv. If ever another man gives
a whistle to a child of mine, and I get my hands on him, I will
hang him nigher than Haman! That is the word with the bark on it.
To take the bark off, phr. (popular).—To reduce in value, either
deliberately, or by accident; a figurative usage of ‘to graze,’ ‘to
take the skin off.’
1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, p. 310. I rode my gallant grey so
close to the wheel, that I grazed his near foreleg against it and
took the bark off, as his owner told me, to the tune of three pun’
sivin.
1853. Rev. Ed. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Further Adventures of
Verdant Green, p. 31. That’ll take the bark from your nozzle, and
distil the Dutch pink for you, won’t it?
To bark at the moon (colloquial).—To clamour uselessly; to agitate to
no effect; to labour in vain.
1630. Taylor’s Workes. And thus my booke and comparisons end
together; for thus much I know, that I have but all this while
bark’d at the moone, throwne feathers against the winde, built upon
the sands, wash’d a blackmore, and laboured in vaine.
Barker, subs. (popular).—1. A pistol. [From barker, a noisy assailant,
i.e., one who barks like a dog.] Sometimes called barking iron (q.v.).
The latter, as far as is known, is the oldest term. An early use of
barkers bears date of 1815, whilst barking iron occurs in Parker’s
Life’s Painter, 1789.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiii. ‘Had he no arms?’ asked the
Justice. ‘Ay, ay, they are never without barkers and slashers.’
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xxii. ‘Barkers for me, Barney,’
said Toby Crackit. ‘Here they are,’ replied Barney, producing a
pair of pistols.
1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. xxiv. I’ll give you five for
those pistols ... being rather a knowing one about the pretty
little barkers.
English Synonyms. ‘Meat in the pot.’ (A Texan term, alluding to the
means by which meat is literally provided for the pot. Texan figures of
speech are often startling enough in originality and sententiousness.
Nor is the moral ingenuity revealed by this vernacular less striking;
e.g., when revolvers are said ‘to make all men equal.’) Other synonyms
for revolvers of similar character are ‘my unconverted friend’; ‘a
one-eyed scribe’ (an argument always persuasive and sometimes
unanswerable); ‘blue lightning’ (sometimes a tragedy in three acts: Act
i., a word; Act ii., a flash of blue lightning; and Act iii., certain
death); ‘whistler’ (from the sharp hissing sound of a bullet in its
flight); ‘peace-maker’ (a sarcastic commentary on the proverb that
‘short reckonings make long friends’); dag; pop; etc.
French Synonyms. Un aboyeur (popular: a literal translation of
‘barker’; also ‘a tout’); un pitroux (thieves’: in the old Provencal,
pitrou bore the sense of a piece of wood or stick, and it is possible
that French thieves have here merely transferred the name from one
weapon to another); un pétouze (a play upon words. In the old cant
pétouze signified the ancient coin known as a pistole); un bayafe
(thieves’: formerly baillaf, a term employed by the robbers who
infested the highways of Southern France. It is thought to be derived
from two words bailler, to give, and affe or rather affre, signifying
fear); un mandolet (thieves’); pied de cochon (military: literally ‘a
pig’s foot’; a variety of weapon of large size and calibre); un
crucifix or un crucifix à ressort (thieves’: literally ‘a crucifix,’ or
‘a crucifix with a spring’); un soufflant (thieves’: soufflet = to
whisper); les burettes (thieves’ and popular: literally ‘phials’).
2. (common.)—A man employed to stand in front of shops and shows to
attract the attention of passers-by, and if possible to entice them
inside, where he can safely leave them to the tender mercies of the
salesmen. The origin of the term is obvious; and, it is interesting to
note that barker has its exact equivalent in the French aboyeur.
Amongst touting photographers, in low neighbourhoods, this individual
is called a doorsman, and the term is likewise applied to auction-room
touts.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Barker (s.), a salesman’s
servant that walks before his door, to invite customers in to buy
cloaths.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Barker. The shopman
of a dealer in second-hand clothes, particularly about Monmouth
St., who walks before his shop and deafens every passenger with his
cries of clothes, coats, or gowns, ‘what d’ye want gemmen, what
d’ye buy?’
1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 109. Mock-auctions and
‘selling-off’ shops are not the only pests where barkers are kept
at the doors to invite unwary passengers to ‘walk in, walk in, sale
just begun.’
1888. Texas Siftings, Oct. 13. I am a barker by profession. The
pedestrian agility required to pace up and down before the
‘Half-dime Museum of Anatomy and Natural History,’ soliciting
passers-by to enter, is of itself enormous; but where it gets in
its base hit is when it increases the appetite. McGinty knows this.
McGinty is my friend, but I wouldn’t serve a tenth of his unexpired
terms for ten dollars. I have peddled clams with McGinty and have
seen him eat three bushels of our stock. That is nothing. When the
show isn’t paying, I have to go out and eat grass. This shows you
what nickel-plated, back-action appetites we have.
3. A man with a troublesome cough; his complaint is otherwise known as
a ‘churchyard cough,’ or a ‘notice to quit’ (q.v.).
4. (nautical.)—Besides being used as a designation for a pistol, barker
is also employed for lower deck guns on board ship.
1842. Cooper, Jack O’ Lanthorne, I., 151. Four more carronades with
two barkers for’ard.