6 PHRASE If you say that someone is behind bars , you mean that they are in prison. □ Fisher was behind bars last night, charged with attempted murder. □ Nearly 5,000 people a year are put behind bars over motoring penalties.
7 N‑COUNT A bar of something is a piece of it which is roughly rectangular. □ What is your favourite chocolate bar? □ [+ of ] …a bar of soap.
8 VERB If you bar a door, you place something in front of it or a piece of wood or metal across it in order to prevent it from being opened. □ [V n] For added safety, bar the door to the kitchen. ● barred ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] □ The windows were closed and shuttered, the door was barred.
9 VERB If you bar someone's way, you prevent them from going somewhere or entering a place, by blocking their path. □ [V n] He stepped in front of her, barring her way.
10 VERB [usu passive] If someone is barred from a place or from doing something, they are officially forbidden to go there or to do it. □ [be V -ed + from ] Women were barred from attending the Convention without a male companion. □ [be V -ed + to ] Many jobs were barred to them.
11 N‑COUNT If something is a bar to doing a particular thing, it prevents someone from doing it. □ [+ to ] One of the fundamental bars to communication is the lack of a common language.
12 PHRASE If you say that there are no holds barred when people are fighting or competing for something, you mean that they are no longer following any rules in their efforts to win. □ It is a war with no holds barred and we must prepare to resist.
13 PREP You can use bar when you mean 'except'. For example, all the work bar the washing means all the work except the washing. □ Bar a large massage table, there wasn't much furniture in the room. □ The aim of the service was to offer everything the independent investor wanted, bar advice. → see also barring
14 PHRASE You use bar none to add emphasis to a statement that someone or something is the best of their kind. [EMPHASIS ] □ He is simply the best goalscorer we have ever had, bar none.
15 N‑PROPER The Bar is used to refer to the profession of a barrister in England, or of any kind of lawyer in the United States. □ Robert was planning to read for the Bar.
16 N‑COUNT In music, a bar is one of the several short parts of the same length into which a piece of music is divided. [mainly BRIT ] in AM, use measure
barb /bɑː r b/ (barbs )
1 N‑COUNT A barb is a sharp curved point near the end of an arrow or fish-hook which makes it difficult to pull out.
2 N‑COUNT A barb is an unkind remark meant as a criticism of someone or something. □ The barb stung her exactly the way he hoped it would.
Bar|ba|dian /bɑː r be I diən/ (Barbadians )
1 ADJ Barbadian means belonging or relating to Barbados or its people.
2 N‑COUNT A Barbadian is someone who comes from Barbados.
bar|bar|ian /bɑː r beə riən/ (barbarians )
1 N‑COUNT In former times, barbarians were people from other countries who were thought to be uncivilized and violent. □ The Roman Empire was overrun by Nordic barbarians.
2 N‑COUNT If you describe someone as a barbarian , you disapprove of them because they behave in a way that is cruel or uncivilized. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ Our maths teacher was a bully and a complete barbarian. □ We need to fight this barbarian attitude to science.
bar|bar|ic /bɑː r bæ r I k/ ADJ If you describe someone's behaviour as barbaric , you strongly disapprove of it because you think that it is extremely cruel or uncivilized. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ This barbaric treatment of animals has no place in any decent society. □ …a particularly barbaric act of violence.
bar|ba|rism /bɑː r bər I zəm/ N‑UNCOUNT If you refer to someone's behaviour as barbarism , you strongly disapprove of it because you think that it is extremely cruel or uncivilized. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ We do not ask for the death penalty: barbarism must not be met with barbarism.
bar|bar|ity /bɑː r bæ r I ti/ (barbarities ) N‑VAR If you refer to someone's behaviour as barbarity , you strongly disapprove of it because you think that it is extremely cruel. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …the barbarity of war.
bar|ba|rous /bɑː r bərəs/
1 ADJ If you describe something as barbarous , you strongly disapprove of it because you think that it is rough and uncivilized. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ He thought the poetry of Whitman barbarous.
2 ADJ If you describe something as barbarous , you strongly disapprove of it because you think that it is extremely cruel. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …a barbarous attack.
bar|becue /bɑː r b I kjuː/ (barbecues , barbecuing , barbecued ) in AM, also use barbeque , Bar-B-Q 1 N‑COUNT A barbecue is a piece of equipment which you use for cooking on in the open air.
2 N‑COUNT If someone has a barbecue , they cook food on a barbecue in the open air.
3 VERB If you barbecue food, especially meat, you cook it on a barbecue. □ [be V -ed] Tuna can be grilled, fried or barbecued. □ [V n] Here's a way of barbecuing corn-on-the-cob that I learned in the States. □ [V -ed] …barbecued chicken. [Also V ]
barbed /bɑː r bd/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] A barbed remark or joke seems polite or humorous, but contains a cleverly hidden criticism. □ …barbed comments.