Barbary

[bahr-buh-ree]

noun

a region in N Africa, extending from W of Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean and including the former Barbary States.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for barbary

We fought our first foreign war in Algiers to defeat the Barbary pirates.
The Algeria Powder Keg|Bruce Riedel|January 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
How singularly present apologies for our slavery echo these voices from the Barbary States!
Charles Sumner; his complete works; Volume 2 (of 20)|Charles Sumner
His first journey abroad was to Barbary; but during 1391 we find him at home, at Bolingbroke and Peterborough.
The White Rose of Langley|Emily Sarah Holt
And I'd seen him before, joy cruisin' on the Barbary Coast one night with a lot of drunken sailors—only he wasn't drunk.
Sonnie-Boy's People|James B. Connolly

He grew to be very rich, and "lived like a Bashaw in Barbary."
The Pirates' Who's Who|Philip Gosse
Two hundred widows dwelt together in Barbary, labouring diligently with their hands, and sharing all things in common.
The Duchess of Trajetto|Anne Manning

British Dictionary definitions for barbary

Barbary

noun

a historic name for a region of N Africa extending from W Egypt to the Atlantic and including the former Barbary States of Tripolitania, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco

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

Word Origin and History for barbary

Barbary

c.1300, "foreign lands" (especially non-Christian lands), from Latin barbaria (see barbarian). Meaning "Saracens living in coastal North Africa" is attested from 1590s, via French (Old French barbarie), from Arabic Barbar, Berber, ancient Arabic name for the inhabitants of North Africa beyond Egypt. Perhaps a native name, perhaps an Arabic word, from barbara "to babble confusedly," but this might be ultimately from Greek barbaria. "The actual relations (if any) of the Arabic and Gr[eek] words cannot be settled; but in European langs. barbaria, Barbarie, Barbary, have from the first been treated as identical with L. barbaria, Byzantine Gr[eek] barbaria land of barbarians" [OED].