barber
noun
a person whose occupation it is to cut and dress the hair of customers, especially men, and to shave or trim the beard.
barber
1 American
[bahr-ber]
/ ˈbɑr bər /
noun
-
barbers
plural
-
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)
-
barbers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
barbered,
past participle, past
-
barbering
present participle
Barber
2
American
[bahr-ber]
/ ˈbɑr bər /
noun
barber
1
British
/ ˈbɑːbə /
noun
verb
-
to cut the hair of
-
to shave or trim the beard of
Barber
2
British
/ ˈbɑːbə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
barbersimple
-
barberssimple
-
have barberedperfect
-
has barberedperfect
-
am barberingprogressive
-
are barberingprogressive
-
is barberingprogressive
-
have been barberingperfect progressive
-
has been barberingperfect progressive
Past
-
barberedsimple
-
had barberedperfect
-
was barberingprogressive
-
were barberingprogressive
-
had been barberingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of barber
1275–1325; Middle English barbour < Anglo-French; Old French barbeor, equivalent to barb ( e ) (< Latin barba beard) + -eor < Latin -ātōr- -ator
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing barber
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The 43-year-old male driver of the vehicle was restrained by local barber Ricky Jefferies -- now widely hailed as a "hero".
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
Eight years later, my barber is still talking about it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
"So, we all started to panic; some people jumped out of windows, and some ran outside," the 31-year-old barber told AFP as he stroked his mother's leg under her hospital blanket.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
"My family was low-income when I was growing up. I used to be on free school meals and my parents struggled to get me into a barber shop because of the cost of living."
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
From now on it’s gonna be a haircut every week by a qualified Marine barber.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Barber Thomas Perriman only recently started his career but has decided to give up some of his time to help out.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
For Barber, this sometimes meant hundreds of dollars more in weekly expenses.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
"What was surprising and unexpected was how small changes in these domains could have such large effects," Barber said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
He cut hair at Joe’s Barber Shop in Inglewood when not traveling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
On the last day of school, Mr. Barber collected his Geography: The Story of the Worlds.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
"It was either fast food restaurants or three barbers in a row, we wanted a nicer area."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
In February last year, the crump of artillery was still distant, but the factories had long since shut down as the city turned into a military camp with restaurants and barbers catering to soldiers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Last year, three barbers in Kunar province were jailed for three to five months for breaching the ministry's rules, according to a UN report.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
“Carson is a working-class community of janitors, barbers, bus drivers and longshoremen,” said attorney Gary Praglin of the Santa Monica-based law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
One of the barbers sat on one of the chairs in a row against the wall.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Trees barbered to resemble incense pots and traditional Yemeni daggers.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 7, 2021
It’s a big American story that rolls across barbered lawns and then leaves you stranded in some all-night Sam’s Club of the soul.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2018
For now at least this England team can get on with presenting itself to the world, laid out in its splendid new-build sarcophagus, shaved and barbered, newly suited, eyes glazed with entropic reverie.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2012
Coaches who have barbered the rulebook like Edward Scissorhands look upon Calipari with a weird mixture of awe and disdain.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2010
He could make out the shapes of pilots sitting around the bar, large shoulders and barbered heads silhouetted in the pale light that spilled into the bar from the dining room.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Oasis Restore was hailed as a "revolution in youth justice", where young offenders were given one-on-one support and trained with workshops, such as catering and barbering.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025
"I started barbering, working as a Saturday lad in Skelmersdale," says Woods.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2025
Mr Cox said he had "hope of my barber shop or my barbering tools etc being somewhat salvageable", but "the whole room has gone including everything in it".
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2023
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound has a tradition of empowering youth, Williams said, and as more kids express interest in trade professions like construction and barbering, the agency is trying to meet demand.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
The snipping was only a kind of mental barbering, a limbering up.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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