bar

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A solid, more or less rigid object of metal or wood with a uniform cross-section smaller than its length.

   “The window was protected by steel bars.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A solid metal object with uniform (round, square, hexagonal, octagonal or rectangular) cross-section; in the US its smallest dimension is ¹⁄₄ inch or greater, a piece of thinner material being called a strip.

   “Ancient Sparta used iron bars instead of handy coins in more valuable alloy, to physically discourage the use of money.”

   “We are expecting a carload of bar tomorrow.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A cuboid piece of any solid commodity.

   “bar of chocolate”

   “bar of soap”

4. (countable, uncountable)A broad shaft, band, or stripe.

   “a bar of light”

   “a bar of colour”

5. (countable, uncountable)A long, narrow drawn or printed rectangle, cuboid or cylinder, especially as used in a bar code or a bar chart.
6. (countable, uncountable)Any of various lines used as punctuation or diacritics, such as the pipe ⟨|⟩, fraction bar (as in 12), and strikethrough (as in Ⱥ), formerly (obsolete) including oblique marks such as the slash.
7. (countable, uncountable)The sign indicating that the characteristic of a logarithm is negative, conventionally placed above the digit(s) to show that it applies to the characteristic only and not to the mantissa.
8. (countable, uncountable)A similar sign indicating that the charge on a particle is the negative of its usual value (and that consequently the particle is in fact an antiparticle).
9. (countable, uncountable)A business selling alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises, or the premises themselves; a public house.

   “The street was lined with all-night bars.”

10. (countable, uncountable)The counter of such premises.

    “Step up to the bar and order a drink.”

11. (countable, uncountable)A counter, or simply a cabinet, from which alcoholic drinks are served in a private house or a hotel room.
12. (broadly, countable, in-compounds, uncountable)Premises or a counter serving any type of beverage.

    “a coffee bar”

    “a juice bar”

13. (countable, uncountable)An informal establishment selling food to be consumed on the premises.

    “a burger bar”

    “a local fish bar”

14. (countable, uncountable)An establishment offering cosmetic services.

    “a nail bar”

    “a brow bar”

15. (countable, uncountable)An official order or pronouncement that prohibits some activity.

    “The club has lifted its bar on women members.”

    “The Chief Medical Officer of London Transport believes that public opinion against smoking will harden to the point of a total bar on the Underground, as in other countries.”

16. (countable, uncountable)Anything that obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier.

    “Muſt I new bars to my own joy create?”

    “Sexual preference or orientation shall not be a bar to becoming a foster parent.”

    “Mr Harding could look back on his initial judgement of Paul's talent with great satisfaction while Paul could reflect that to be Irish was not necessarily a bar to progress.”

17. (countable, uncountable)A metasyntactic variable representing an unspecified entity, often the second in a series, following foo.

    “Suppose we have four objects, foo, bar, baz and quux.”

18. (UK, countable, uncountable)A dividing line (physical or notional) in the chamber of a legislature beyond which only members and officials may pass.
19. (UK, countable, uncountable)The railing surrounding the part of a courtroom in which the judges, lawyers, defendants and witnesses stay.
20. (Philippines, US, countable, uncountable, usually)The bar exam, the legal licensing exam.

    “He's studying hard to pass the Bar this time; he's failed it twice before.”

21. (countable, metonymically, uncountable)Collectively, lawyers or the legal profession; specifically applied to barristers in some countries, but including all lawyers in others.

    “He was called to the bar.”

22. (countable, uncountable)One of an array of bar-shaped symbols that display the level of something, such as wireless signal strength or battery life remaining.

    “I don't have any bars in the middle of this desert.”

23. (countable, uncountable)A vertical line across a musical staff dividing written music into sections, typically of equal durational value.
24. (countable, in-plural, slang, uncountable)One of those musical sections.

    “That rapper there, yeah, he got bars.”

25. (broadly, countable, in-plural, slang, uncountable)One of those musical sections.

    “His musical journey, and this is a quote, is “a constant push and pull between self awareness and delusion”. That’s bars right there to be honest.”

26. (countable, uncountable)A horizontal pole that must be crossed in the high jump and pole vault.
27. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Any level of achievement regarded as a challenge to be overcome; a standard or expectation.

    “to set the bar high/low”

    “to raise the bar”

    “[…] there’s no World War III now, but in the words of the prominent Never Trumper and Atlantic contributor Eliot Cohen, “that’s a pretty low bar.””

28. (countable, uncountable)The crossbar.

    “Composed play then saw Sam Ricketts nutmeg Ashley Cole before Taylor whipped a fine curling effort over Petr Cech's bar.”

29. (countable, uncountable)The central divider between the inner and outer table of a backgammon board, where stones are placed if they are hit.
30. (countable, uncountable)An addition to a military medal, on account of a subsequent act.
31. (countable, uncountable)A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance; especially
32. (countable, uncountable)A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance; especially:

    “Travellers change at Batoum into a steamer which performs the service between that port and Poti, and which has a less draught of water to enable it to cross the bar of the river Rion.”

33. (countable, uncountable)One of the ordinaries in heraldry; a diminutive of a fess.

    “On the fesse are two bars wavy azure for waterways.”

34. (countable, uncountable)A city gate, in some British place names.

    “Temple Bar, London”

35. (countable, uncountable)A drilling or tamping rod.
36. (countable, uncountable)A vein or dike crossing a lode.
37. (countable, uncountable)A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.
38. (countable, uncountable)The part of the crust of a horse's hoof which is bent inwards towards the frog at the heel on each side, and extends into the centre of the sole.
39. (countable, in-plural, uncountable)The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed.
40. (countable, slang, uncountable)A measure of drugs, typically one ounce.

    “Tell Sick Boy tae gie us a bell if ye see um. The bastard owes us twenty fuckin bar.”

41. (countable, uncountable)A small, tablet-shaped dose of Xanax, typically containing two milligrams and able to be split into quarters.
42. A non-SI unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals, slightly less than atmospheric pressure at sea level.
43. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Browning automatic rifle.

verb

1. (transitive)To obstruct the passage of (someone or something).

   “Our way was barred by a huge rockfall.”

   “'One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night, / But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light; / Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, / Then look for me by moonlight, / Watch for me by moonlight, / I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way.'”

2. (transitive)To prohibit.

   “I couldn't get into the nightclub because I had been barred.”

3. (transitive)To lock or bolt with a bar.

   “to bar the door”

4. To imprint or paint with bars, to stripe.

   “I lived in a hut in the yard. To be out of the chaos I would sometimes get into the accountant’s office. It was built of horizontal planks, and so badly put together that, as he bent over his high desk, he was barred from neck to heels with narrow strips of sunlight.”

prep

1. Except, other than, besides.

   “He invited everyone to his wedding bar his ex-wife.”

   “"I might be a fool," the younger man admitted quietly, "even an idiot, but there's not a person living, bar you, who possess the courage to call me a weakling, Sir."”

   “These see the overhead wires installed on all bar the slow lines between Bedford and Wellingborough by next May, with the remaining section completed by August, when the full programme is due to be completed.”

adv

1. (not-comparable)Denotes the minimum odds offered on other horses not mentioned by name.

   “Leg At Each Corner is at 3/1, Lost My Shirt 5/1, and it's 10/1 bar.”

name

1. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative spelling of bar.
2. A town and municipality of Montenegro.
3. A diminutive of the female given name Barbara.
4. A diminutive of the male given name Barry.

   “Barry is there, playing Ms. Pac-Man. "Hey, Bar." "Well, have you met him yet?" Barry asks.”

5. A town in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine.
6. A male or female given name from Hebrew.

   “Defense Minister Israel Katz paid a visit to released hostage Bar Kuperstein, who was an off-duty soldier when he was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Nova party near Re’im on October 7, 2023.”

   “After Spanish actress Penelope Cruz posted an Instagram story showing released Palestinian prisoners reuniting with their families for the first time, Israeli model Bar Refaeli felt compelled to respond.”

7. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of Bureau of Automotive Repair

adj

1. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, slang)Acronym of bright, alert, responsive.

   “Anytime you notice your horse is ADR instead of BAR, it's time to get on the phone to your vet.”