barney
barney
1 American
[bahr-nee]
/ ˈbɑr ni /
noun
-
barneys
plural
-
Informal.
-
an argument.
-
a prizefight.
-
a fight or brawl.
-
a blunder or mistake.
-
-
a small locomotive used in mining and logging.
-
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.
Barney
2
American
[bahr-nee]
/ ˈbɑr ni /
noun
barney
British
/ ˈbɑːnɪ /
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of barney
First recorded in 1860–65; perhaps special uses of Barney
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Give barney his chubby cheeks and nose back!”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 15, 2023
For "sell 10,000 bushels of May wheat at $1.45 1/4" the message might read: "Sell barney stoke", explained Ross.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2013
Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka's adventures in China may be over sooner rather than later due to a barney between shareholders at Shanghai Shenhua.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 28, 2012
Commented on Cisco Explains Its $700 Cius: More Than A Tablet “Don`t worry ipad user, you can pass down your ipad to your kids to play games, watch barney or elmo...”
From Forbes ● Jun. 30, 2011
They had a right barney this evening, actually over the dinner table.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Barney “Tiny” Sedran, born to Russian Jewish immigrants, wasn’t tall enough to make his high-school team but played at a settlement house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Barney Pressman at Barneys, he was the first one to display my goods in the New York shop window 35 years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Barney had previously visited Professor Noel Fitzpatrick, external, who starred in The Supervet, on a number of occasions, including to treat his arthritic joints.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Dr. Barney Wainwright, senior research fellow at Leeds Beckett University, told BBC Sport earlier this week how altitude can affect athletes.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Barney the purple dinosaur had been given to her by her grandpa Jerry.
From "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin
If barneys used to be the norm in football dressing rooms, the modern-day footballer is a milder-mannered creature.
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2014
We had long talks and barneys over the whole thing—sometimes by ourselves with Starlight, sometimes with father.
From Robbery under Arms; a story of life and adventure in the bush and in the Australian goldfields by Rolf Boldrewood
They were always having "barneys," and it would only be looked upon as one of his usual freaks.
From The Ebbing Of The Tide South Sea Stories - 1896 by Louis Becke
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
