barn1
[bahrn]
- a building for storing hay, grain, etc., and often for housing livestock.
- a very large garage for buses, trucks, etc.; carbarn.
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- to store (hay, grain, etc.) in a barn.
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Origin of barn1
barn2
[bahrn]
- a unit of nuclear cross section, equal to 10−24 square centimeter. Abbreviation: b
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Origin of barn2
First recorded in 1945–50; special use of barn1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for barn
Contemporary Examples
He was born in a barn to penniless parents who were part of a people under occupation.
From the roof of the barn is a long loop of rope, through this the turkey is suspended by its legs.
There is an ancestral homestead, but it has a meth lab in the barn.
Every spring and fall, the chicken coop in the barn must be cleaned.
Also happy to get some fresh air (and a huge, aromatic cigar at a safe distance from the barn).
Historical Examples
Then it's better to take him out back of the barn and shoot him, by Gad!
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
And Will smiled back his gratification as they started for the barn.
The Raid From Beausejour; And How The Carter Boys Lifted The MortgageCharles G. D. Roberts
"I'll do all I can," K. promised, and followed the path to the barn.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
Lights blazed in every window; a dozen automobiles were parked before the barn.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
When, five minutes later, she beckoned him from the door of the barn, her eyes were red.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
barn1
- a large farm outbuilding, used chiefly for storing hay, grain, etc, but also for housing livestock
- US and Canadian a large shed for sheltering railroad cars, trucks, etc
- any large building, esp an unattractive one
- (modifier) relating to a system of poultry farming in which birds are allowed to move freely within a barnbarn eggs
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Word Origin
Old English beren, from bere barley + ærn room; see barley 1
barn2
- a unit of nuclear cross section equal to 10 – 28 square metreSymbol: b
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Word Origin
C20: from barn 1; so called because of the relatively large cross section
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 barn
n.
Old English bereærn "barn," literally "barley house," from bere "barley" (see barley) + aern "house," metathesized from *rann, *rasn (cf. Old Norse rann, Gothic razn "house," Old English rest "resting place;" sealtærn "saltworks").
Barley was not always the only crop grown as the data recovered at Bishopstone might suggest but it is always the most commonly represented, followed by wheat and then rye and oats. [C.J. Arnold, "An Archaeology of the Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms," 1988, p.36]
Another word for "barn" in Old English was beretun, "barley enclosure" (from tun "enclosure, house"), which accounts for the many Barton place names on the English map, and the common surname. Barn door used figuratively for "broad target" and "great size" since 1540s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with barn
barn
see can't hit the broad side of a barn; lock the barn door after the horse is stolen.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.