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• barney
  barney

  noun
• Barney
  Barney

  noun

  a first name, form of Bernard.

barney

¹ American  

[bahr-nee] / ˈbɑr ni /

noun

barneys plural

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 ² American  

[bahr-nee] / ˈbɑr ni /

noun

1. a first name, form of Bernard.

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barney British  

/ ˈbɑːnɪ /

noun

1. a noisy argument

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verb

1. to argue or quarrel

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• barneys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of barney

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

barney Barney barneys

“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

"I'm doing an event at the Globe, talking about identity politics with Peter Tatchell and George Galloway," he said, adding: "We're probably going to have a bit of a barney."

From The Guardian ● May 27, 2013

“Don`t worry ipad user, you can pass down your ipad to your kids to play games, watch barney or elmo...”

From Forbes ● Jul. 7, 2011

They had a right barney this evening, actually over the dinner table.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

"It accentuates what they've done," says Dr Barney Wainwright, senior research fellow at Leeds Beckett University.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

Also on the England selection panel are director of cricket Rob Key, captains Ben Stokes and Harry Brook, head of player identification David Court and performance director Ed Barney.

From BBC ● May 20, 2026

Rapper T.I. will still perform at halftime, but the live recording of the Hawks AF Podcast featuring Gertz, T.I. and Magic City founder Michael Barney was canceled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2026

He was a deputy director in the International Monetary Fund’s Policy Development and Review Department and the chief emerging-market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney.

From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026

"Take a look at all that glass. One-way glass," Barney Northrup said.

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

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 Boldrewood, Rolf

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 Becke, Louis