Barney

¹ American  

[bahr-nee] / ˈbɑr ni /

noun

1. a first name, form of Bernard.

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barney ² American  

[bahr-nee] / ˈbɑr ni /

noun

plural

barneys

1. Informal.

   1. an argument.

   2. a prizefight.

   3. a fight or brawl.

   4. a blunder or mistake.

2. a small locomotive used in mining and logging.

3. Movie Slang. a heavily padded cover for a camera, used to reduce the camera noise so that it will not be picked up by the sound-recording equipment.

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barney British  

/ ˈbɑːnɪ /

noun

1. a noisy argument

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verb

1. to argue or quarrel

Etymology

Origin of barney

First recorded in 1860–65; perhaps special uses of Barney

Example Sentences

Said Abraham: “OK, Barney, I know you’ll read all the books. But tell me one thing: what should I tell the relatives?”

From The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Newman concludes: “Barney would go to college.”

From The Wall Street Journal

As “the earliest bit of Newman art commentary that survives,” it was, Ms. Newman notes, “both prescient and ironic. The painful and poignant scenario Barney described” was the very one he would live in 1950 and 1951.

From The Wall Street Journal

By 1955, Ms. Newman marvels, “Barney had become an unavoidable eminence after barely having had a career.”

From The Wall Street Journal

An analyst at Salomon Smith Barney famously labeled a company a “buy” but called it a “pig” in an email to colleagues.

From The Wall Street Journal