a person whose occupation it is to cut and dress the hair of customers, especially men, and to shave or trim the beard.
to cut the hair of
to shave or trim the beard of
1275–1325; Middle English barbour < Anglo-French; Old French barbeor, equivalent to barb ( e ) (< Latin barba beard) + -eor < Latin -ātōr- -ator
A barber is a person whose job is cutting hair in a barbershop. Your barber might have a tendency to cut your hair a little shorter than you like. When you visit a barbershop, you sit in a special chair while the barber cuts your hair with scissors or electric clippers. Men are the most common customers of a barber, although women can also get their hair cut by barbers. Barber comes from the Anglo-French word barbour, which is rooted in the Latin word for "beard," barb. Early barbers were certified not only to cut hair, but to perform surgery and dentistry as well.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some have no real names, just signs reading BARBER, TATTOOS, GUNS, TACOS.
From New York Times • Aug. 19, 2021
In a window close beside it appeared the legend: SAM TUK BARBER.
From Dope by Rohmer, Sax
BARBER, U.S.N.—An elaborate review of modern explosives in their applicability to ordnance, etc.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891 by Various
This scarf-pin—it's worth five hundred dollars—I'll give— THE BARBER.
From The Reckoning A Play in One Act by Wilde, Percival
At the rise of curtain, THE BARBER, a man of fifty, is discovered sharpening a razor, and whistling softly to himself.
From The Reckoning A Play in One Act by Wilde, Percival
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
