barcode

[ bahr-kohd ]

/ ˈbɑrˌkoʊd /

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noun Also bar code .

a series of lines of varying width, printed, as on a container or product, that can be read by an optical scanner to determine charges for purchases, destinations for letters, etc.See also Universal Product Code.

verb (used with object), bar·cod·ed, bar·cod·ing.Also bar-code .

to put a barcode on.

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Origin of barcode

First recorded in 1960–65; bar¹ (in the sense of “a band or strip”) + code

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use barcode in a sentence

I took out my knife, my Ka-Bar, and knocked his teeth out, but they fell into his throat.
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile|Robert Ward|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
You might work on the same groove for five hours nonstop, some three-bar thing over and over.
Speed Read: The Juiciest Bits From the History of ‘Purple Rain’|Jennie Yabroff|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Based on a true story” is film code for “this may or may not have happened, but almost certainly not in this way.
Wrestler Mark Schultz Hates the ‘Sickening and Insulting Lies’ of ‘Foxcatcher’|Rich Goldstein|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In Brazil people color code their underwear according to their needs.
New Year’s Eve, Babylon Style|Candida Moss|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The bar also claims that it hosted the first-ever poetry slam 28 years ago.
The Bars That Made America Great|Nina Strochlic|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But you will find most colleges and most college societies bar religious instruction and discussion.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Ogden Hoffman, a distinguished member of the New York bar, died, aged 62.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
The mosquito bar was drawn over her; the old woman had come in while she slept and let down the bar.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
And when three come, me and Maud was on the Bar Y road where it goes acrosst that crick-bottom.
Alec Lloyd, Cowpuncher|Eleanor Gates
If dat preacher goes to run a bar agin me,” he says, “py golly, I makes no more moneys!
Alec Lloyd, Cowpuncher|Eleanor Gates

British Dictionary definitions for barcode

bar code

noun

commerce a machine-readable arrangement of numbers and parallel lines of different widths printed on a package, which can be electronically scanned at a checkout to register the price of the goods and to activate computer stock-checking and reorderingAlso called: Universal Product Code, UPC

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

Cultural definitions for barcode

bar code

A series of parallel lines that can be read by an optical scanner and decoded by a computer into usable information. The ten-line Universal Product Code (UPC) on the packaging of retail items is an example of this. The key to this code is the variation in line thickness and separation.