barley sugar

American  

noun

1. a brittle, amber-colored, transparent candy, formerly boiled in a decoction of barley, consisting of sugar, cream of tartar, and orange or lemon juice, usually twisted into strips or molded into a variety of shapes.

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barley sugar British  

noun

1. a brittle clear amber-coloured sweet made by boiling sugar, originally with a barley extract

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Etymology

Origin of barley sugar

First recorded in 1705–15

Example Sentences

It would look at home in any microbiology lab, were the bottles not filled with a strong broth of malted barley, sugar and hops.

From Nature • Jul. 25, 2016

The walking sticks, twisted as barley sugar, are again steel rods, except one, with a decorative handle, which has been roughly glued together from short wooden off-cuts, such as you might find under a saw-bench.

From The Guardian • Nov. 25, 2012

And the choirboys had their cassock pockets stuffed with sticks of barley sugar to help them get through the day.

From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2011

I gave him lots of barley sugar and he was getting sack-loads of fan mail.

From The Guardian • Dec. 18, 2010

Sugar plums, sugar candy, barley sugar, sweetmeats, and most kinds of cakes, are unwholesome, and cloying to the appetite.

From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849