Jump To:

• barleycorn
  barleycorn

  noun

  barley.
• Barleycorn
  Barleycorn

  noun

  John. John Barleycorn.

barleycorn

¹ American  

[bahr-lee-kawrn] / ˈbɑr liˌkɔrn /

noun

1. barley.

2. a grain of barley.

3. a unit of length equal to 1/3 inch (8.5 millimeters).

4. Also barley corn a type of basket weave that produces an allover geometric pattern.

---

Barleycorn ² American  

[bahr-lee-kawrn] / ˈbɑr liˌkɔrn /

noun

1. John. John Barleycorn.

---

barleycorn British  

/ ˈbɑːlɪˌkɔːn /

noun

1. a grain of barley, or barley itself

2. an obsolete unit of length equal to one third of an inch

---

Etymology

Origin of barleycorn

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English; see origin at barley ¹, corn ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

barleycorn Barleycorn

They had cheese and milk from the goats that shared the caves with the singers, even some oats and barleycorn and dried fruit laid by during the long summer.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

“That should buy you a bushel o’ barleycorn.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Poor Thumbelina stood before the door, just like a little beggar girl, and asked for a small piece of barleycorn, for she had been without a morsel to eat for two days.

From Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales First Series by Andersen, H. C. (Hans Christian)

The declination of a magnetick needle above a terrella is shown by means of several equal iron wires, of the length of a barleycorn, arranged along a meridian.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by Gilbert, William

C.—"There you are wrong; only eleven feet, three inches—" B.—"No, believe me, I am right; twelve feet, and three inches to a barleycorn."

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 17, No. 494, June 18, 1831 by Various

I started reading it and on page one the characters are all singing "Barleycorn" by Johnny Flynn.

From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2022

The New York Times took a cheekier approach with its front page headline: “John Barleycorn Died Peacefully at the Toll of 12.”

From New York Times ● Jan. 1, 2020

Chicago bars using facial detection software Need to know how crowded John Barleycorn is right now?

From Chicago Tribune ● Nov. 16, 2011

John Barleycorn, meanwhile, is tortured, killed and resuscitated, but in this parable of the agricultural cycle, it seems to me he is something of a straw man.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 8, 2010

Nine, Tom Barleycorn had said, and nine there were, but two were dead and one so weak he might have died by morning.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin