bar

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɑː/
• (US) enPR: bär, IPA^(key): /bɑɹ/, [bɑɹ], [bɑ˞]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)
• Homophones: baa, bah (in some pronunciations)

From Middle English barre, from Old French barre (“beam, bar, gate, barrier”), from Vulgar Latin *barra, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old Frankish *bara (“bar, beam, barrier, fence”), from Proto-Germanic *barō (“beam, bar, barrier”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰAr- (“log, board, plank”). If so, then cognate with Old High German para, bara (“bar, beam, one's cherished land”), Old Frisian ber (“attack, assault”), Swedish bärling (“a spoke”), Norwegian berling (“a small bar in a vehicle, rod”), Latin forus (“gangway, plank”), Russian забо́р (zabór, “fencing, paling, fence”), Russian бо́р (bór), Ancient Greek φάρος (pháros, “piece of land, furrow, marker, beacon, lighthouse”). May well have been reinforced by existing Old English term from the same root.

bar (countable and uncountable, plural bars)

Two steel bars.

1. 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, metallurgy) A solid metal object with uniform (round, square, hexagonal, octagonal or rectangular) cross-section; in the US its smallest dimension is .25 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. A cuboid piece of any solid commodity.

   bar of chocolate

   bar of soap

4. A broad shaft, or band, or stripe.

   a bar of light

   a bar of colour

5. A long, narrow drawn or printed rectangle, cuboid or cylinder, especially as used in a bar code or a bar chart.
6. (typography) Various lines used as punctuation or diacritics, such as the pipe ⟨|⟩, fraction bar (as in 12), and strikethrough (as in Ⱥ), formerly (obsolete) inclusive of oblique marks such as the slash.

   Hyponyms: pipe, strikethrough

7. (mathematics) 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. (physics) A similar sign indicating that the charge on a particle is negative (and that consequently the particle is in fact an antiparticle).
9. A business licensed to sell alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises, or the premises themselves; public house.

   Synonyms: barroom, ginshop, pub (British), public house, tavern; see also Thesaurus:pub

   The street was lined with all-night bars.

10. The counter of such a premises.

    Step up to the bar and order a drink.

11. A counter, or simply a cabinet, from which alcoholic drinks are served in a private house or a hotel room.
12. (by extension, in combinations such as coffee bar, juice bar etc.) A premises or counter serving any type of beverage.
13. An establishment where alcohol and sometimes other refreshments are served.
14. An informal establishment selling food to be consumed on the premises.

    a burger bar

    a local fish bar

15. An official order or pronouncement that prohibits some activity.

    Synonyms: ban, prohibition

    The club has lifted its bar on women members.

16. Anything that obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier.
    • Dryden

      Must I new bars to my own joy create?

    • 2013, Terence Dillon, A Long Way Home (page 184)

      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. (programming, whimsical, derived from fubar) A metasyntactic variable representing an unspecified entity, often the second in a series, following foo.

    Suppose we have two objects, foo and bar.

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

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

21. (law, metonymically, "the Bar", "the bar") A collective term for lawyers or the legal profession; specifically applied to barristers in some countries but including all lawyers in others.

    He was called to the bar, he became a barrister.

22. (telecommunications) A bar-shaped symbol that denotes levels of reception, or reception itself.

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

23. (music) A vertical line across a musical staff dividing written music into sections, typically of equal durational value.

    Synonym: measure

24. (music) One of those musical sections.
25. (sports) A horizontal pole that must be crossed in high jump and pole vault
26. (figuratively) Any level of achievement regarded as a challenge to be overcome.
27. (football-most codes) The crossbar
    • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎:

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

28. (backgammon) The central divider between the inner and outer table of a backgammon board, where stones are placed if they are hit.
29. An addition to a military medal, on account of a subsequent act
30. A linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water.
31. (geography, nautical, hydrology) A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance, especially a formation extending across the mouth of a river or harbor or off a beach, and which may obstruct navigation. (FM 55-501).
32. (heraldry) One of the ordinaries in heraldry; a fess.
33. A city gate, in some British place names.

    Potter's Bar

34. (mining) A drilling or tamping rod.
35. (mining) A vein or dike crossing a lode.
36. (architecture) A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.
37. (farriery) 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.
38. (farriery, in the plural) The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed.

• Arabic: بَار‎ m (bār)
• Armenian: բար (bar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吧 (bā)

• Danish: bar c
• Dutch: bar m
• Georgian: ბარი (bari)
• German: Bar f
• Greek: μπαρ n (bar)
• Hungarian: bár
• Icelandic: bar m
• Irish: beár m
• Italian: bar m
• Japanese: バー (bā)
• Korean: 바 (ba)
• Polish: bar m
• Portuguese: bar
• Russian: бар m (bar)
• Serbo-Croatian: бар m, bar m
• Spanish: bar m
• Swedish: bar c
• Thai: บาร์ (baa)

• (heraldry): Ordinary on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

bar (third-person singular simple present bars, present participle barring, simple past and past participle barred)

1. (transitive) To obstruct the passage of (someone or something).
   • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     "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."

   Our way was barred by a huge rockfall.

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.

   bar the door

4. To imprint or paint with bars, to stripe.
   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, chapter I, in Heart of Darkness:

     I lived in a hut in the yard, but 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.

• (obstruct): block, hinder, obstruct
• (prohibit): ban, interdict, prohibit
• (lock or bolt with a bar):
• See also Thesaurus:hinder

• outbar
• unbar

bar

1. Except, other than, besides.

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

2. (horse racing) 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.

• apart from, barring, except, except for, excluding, other than, save

• bar none
• all over bar the shouting

• The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at

Borrowed from Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”), coined circa 1900.

bar (plural bars)

1. A non-SI unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals, approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.

• ㍴

• kilobar
• megabar
• millibar

• isobar

• Bar (unit) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Bar in the 1920 edition of Encyclopedia Americana.

• ABR, ARB, Arb., Rab, abr., arb, bra

bar

1. night

From Dutch bar

• IPA^(key): [bɑɾ]

bar (attributive barre, comparative barder, superlative barste)

1. barren

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

From Proto-Albanian *bara, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-, compare Ancient Greek φάρμακον (phármakon, “drug, medicine”), Lithuanian bùrti (“to conjure”).[1] Alternatively from Proto-Indo-European *bʰars- (“spike, prickle”) (compare Old Norse barr (“corn, grain, barley”), Welsh bara (“bread”), Latin far (“spelt”), Serbo-Croatian бра̏шно/brȁšno.[2]

• IPA^(key): /baɾ/

bar m (indefinite plural barëra, definite singular bari, definite plural barërat)

1. grass
2. (figuratively) tasteless food

bar m (indefinite plural barna, definite singular bari, definite plural barnat)

1. medicine, medication, medicinal plant
2. (figuratively, colloquial) cure, palliative, solution
3. (figuratively, colloquial) marijuana, likely a calque from English or French

• barnatore
• barnatar
• barnashitës
• barni
• barngrënës
• barishte
• barishtor
• barishtak

bar m (plural bars)

1. bar (establishment)
2. bar (unit of measure)

From Middle High German wir, wir, from Old High German iz, from Proto-Germanic *wīr. Cognate with German wir, Dutch wij, English we, Icelandic vér.

bar

1. (Sette Comuni) we

   Synonym: bandare

   Bar zeinan bèllase. ― We are Italians.

   Bar zeinda. ― We are here.

   Bar habanze galummet. ― We took them.

• “bar” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

• IPA^(key): /bar/

Borrowed from English bar.[1]

bar m

1. bar (a business selling beverages)
2. bar (the counter of such a premises)
3. bar (a cabinet used to store alcoholic drinks in a private house or a hotel room)

• barový m

• barman m

Borrowing from modern European languages, originally coined based on Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”).[2]

bar m

1. bar, a non-SI unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals

• bar in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• bar in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

From Latin bibere, present active infinitive of bibō. Compare Italian bere, Romanian bea.

bar (second-person plural present baite)

1. to drink

• IPA^(key): /baːr/, [b̥ɑːˀ]
• Rhymes: -aːˀr

From Old Norse berr (“bare”). Compare Old English bær.

bar

1. bare, naked
2. sheer, pure

• min bare røv

Borrowed from English bar.

bar c (singular definite baren, plural indefinite barer)

1. bar (business licensed to sell intoxicating beverages, counter of such a premises)

From Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”).

bar c (plural indefinite bar)

1. bar (unit of pressure)

See the etymology of the main entry.

bar

1. past tense of bære

• IPA^(key): /bɑr/
• Hyphenation: bar
• Rhymes: -ɑr

Borrowed from English bar.

bar m (plural bars, diminutive barretje n)

1. bar, counter, drink cabinet
2. bar, pub

Cognate with English barren.

bar (comparative barder, superlative barst)

1. harsh, tough (used mainly with koude (“cold”), or omstandigheden (“conditions”))
2. barren, inhospitable, bare
3. crude, grim, unfriendly

bar

1. extremely (only in a negative sense)

From Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”), coined c. 1900. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

bar

1. bar: a unit of pressure, equal to 100,000 pascals

• kilobar
• megabar
• millibar

• isobar

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

bar

1. he, it bore, carried:: 1st and 3rd person singular past tense form of bera (“to bear, to carry”)

• hetta bar ikki til (“this wasn’t possible”)

• IPA^(key): /baʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʁ

bar m (plural bars)

1. A bar (establishment)
2. A bar (counter)
3. A bass (fish)

• “bar” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from English bar.

bar m (plural bares)

1. bar, coffee shop, café, pub (an establishment where refreshments and alcohol drinks are served)

Borrowed from English bar and this from Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”).

bar m (plural bares)

1. bar (unit of pressure)

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːɐ̯

bar (not comparable)

1. bare

bar

1. in cash
2. pure

bar

1. (+genitive) without

• ohne

bar

1. Romanization of 𐌱𐌰𐍂

• IPA^(key): /paːr/
• Rhymes: -aːr

Borrowed from English bar (1), from Old French barre.

bar m (genitive singular bars, nominative plural barir)

1. bar (establishment offering alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises)
2. bar (counter at which such beverages are sold or offered)
3. (by extension) a counter where a buffet or a specialized kind of food is offered

Borrowed from English bar (2), from Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”).

bar n (genitive singular bars, nominative plural bör)

1. bar (unit of pressure)

Borrowed from English bar, from Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”).

bar m (genitive singular bair, nominative plural bair)

1. bar (unit of pressure)

• "bar" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Entries containing “bar” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Borrowed from English bar.

bar m (plural bar)

1. bar (place serving drinks)

   C'è un bar qui vicino? ― Is there a bar nearby?

2. café

• barista

Related to Persian بار‎ (bâr).