barley


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to barley: barley water

barley

a grain used as food and in making beer, ale, and whiskey
Not to be confused with:
barely – hardly; only just; almost not: She barely made it to work on time.; scantily: She’s barely clothed.; sparsely
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

bar·ley

 (bär′lē)
n.
1. A grass in the genus Hordeum native to temperate regions, having flowers in terminal, often long-awned spikes and widely cultivated for its grain.
2. The grain of H. vulgare or its varieties, used in malt production and as food for livestock and humans.

[Middle English barli, from Old English bærlic; see bhares- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

barley

(ˈbɑːlɪ)
n
1. (Plants) any of various erect annual temperate grasses of the genus Hordeum, esp H. vulgare, that have short leaves and dense bristly flower spikes and are widely cultivated for grain and forage
2. (Plants) the grain of any of these grasses, used in making beer and whisky and for soups, puddings, etc. See also pearl barley
[Old English bærlīc (adj); related to bere barley, Old Norse barr barley, Gothic barizeins of barley, Latin farīna flour]

barley

(ˈbɑːlɪ)
sentence substitute
(Games, other than specified) dialect a cry for truce or respite from the rules of a game
[C18: probably changed from parley]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bar•ley

(ˈbɑr li)

n.
1. a widely distributed cereal plant belonging to the genus Hordeum, of the grass family, having awned flowers that grow in tightly bunched spikes, with three small additional spikes at each node.
2. the grain of this plant, used as food and in making beer, ale, and whiskey.
[before 1000; Middle English; Old English bærlīc (adj.)]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.barley - a grain of barleybarley - a grain of barley      
food grain, grain, cereal - foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses
pearl barley - barley ground into small round pellets
common barley, Hordeum vulgare - grass yielding grain used for breakfast food and animal feed and in malt beverages
2.barley - cultivated since prehistoric timesbarley - cultivated since prehistoric times; grown for forage and grain
genus Hordeum, Hordeum - annual to perennial grasses of temperate northern hemisphere and South America: barley
common barley, Hordeum vulgare - grass yielding grain used for breakfast food and animal feed and in malt beverages
barley grass, Hordeum murinum, wall barley - European annual grass often found as a weed in waste ground especially along roadsides and hedgerows
foxtail barley, Hordeum jubatum, squirreltail barley, squirreltail grass - barley grown for its highly ornamental flower heads with delicate long silky awns; North America and northeastern Asia
Hordeum pusillum, little barley - annual barley native to western North America and widespread in southern United States and tropical America
cereal, cereal grass - grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
بِالكاد، بِالجُهْد، بِشقِّ النَّفْسشَعِير
ječmen
byg
hordeo
oder
ohra
ječam
árpa
bygg
大麦
보리
ledinukasmiežiai
mieži
orz
ječmen
korn
ข้าวบาร์เลย์
lúa mạch

barley

[ˈbɑːlɪ]
A. Ncebada f
B. CPD barley sugar Nazúcar m cande
barley water N (esp Brit) → hordiate m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

barley

[ˈbɑːrli] norge fbarley sugar nsucre m d'orgebarley water nsirop m d'orgeat
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

barley

nGerste f

barley

:
barleycorn
nGerstenkorn nt ? John
barley sugar
nGersten- or Malzzucker m; (sweet) hartes Zuckerbonbon
barley water
n Art Gerstenextrakt; lemon/orange barleykonzentriertes Zitronen-/Orangegetränk
barley wine
n (Brit) Art Starkbier
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

barley

[ˈbɑːlɪ] norzo
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

barley

(ˈbaːli) noun
a type of grain used for food and for making beer and whisky. The farmer has harvested his barley.
barley sugar
a kind of hard sweet made by melting and cooling sugar.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

barley

شَعِير ječmen byg Gerste κριθάρι cebada ohra orge ječam orzo 大麦 보리 gerst bygg jęczmień cevada ячмень korn ข้าวบาร์เลย์ arpa lúa mạch 大麦
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

bar·ley

n. cebada.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
References in classic literature ?
Barley. But what a blessing it is for the son of my father and mother, to love a girl who has no relations, and who can never bother herself, or anybody else, about her family!"
Herbert had told me on former occasions, and now reminded me, that he first knew Miss Clara Barley when she was completing her education at an establishment at Hammersmith, and that on her being recalled home to nurse her father, he and she had confided their affection to the motherly Mrs.
To some, Master Taboureau would lend a sack of barley, for which he was to receive a sack of rye at harvest time, and to others a measure of wheat for a sack of four.
Now, however, return home, and go about among the suitors; begin getting provisions ready for your voyage; see everything well stowed, the wine in jars, and the barley meal, which is the staff of life, in leathern bags, while I go round the town and beat up volunteers at once.
It was a little before the great rains just now mentioned that I threw this stuff away, taking no notice, and not so much as remembering that I had thrown anything there, when, about a month after, or thereabouts, I saw some few stalks of something green shooting out of the ground, which I fancied might be some plant I had not seen; but I was surprised, and perfectly astonished, when, after a little longer time, I saw about ten or twelve ears come out, which were perfect green barley, of the same kind as our European - nay, as our English barley.
The Sheikh of this village here tells me that his barley has failed, and he wants a fifty per cent remission."
And I can tell you that by this his father and friends who believed him grew very rich because they did as he advised them, bidding them 'sow barley this year, not wheat; this year you may sow pulse and not barley; the next there will be a full oil crop, and the three following not a drop will be got.'"
In some booths there was dancing to merry music, in others flowed ale and beer, and in others yet again sweet cakes and barley sugar were sold; and sport was going outside the booths also, where some minstrel sang ballads of the olden time, playing a second upon the harp, or where the wrestlers struggled with one another within the sawdust ring, but the people gathered most of all around a raised platform where stout fellows played at quarterstaff.
If you stay the night on land at Clifton, you cannot do better than put up at the "Barley Mow." It is, without exception, I should say, the quaintest, most old-world inn up the river.
Every day I suffer a thousand hardships and misfortunes, and have hard work to get even enough bad barley bread to keep myself and my family alive, while the lucky Sindbad spends money right and left and lives upon the fat of the land!
Poor little Thumbelina went up to the door and begged for a little piece of barley, for she had not had anything to eat for the last two days.
But it is not with the Scotch as it is with the English, to whom that fluid flesh which is called blood is a paramount necessity; the Scotch, a poor and sober race, live upon a little barley crushed between two stones, diluted with the water of the fountain, and cooked upon another stone, heated.