2 ADJ [ADJ n] Baronial means relating to a baron or barons. □ …the baronial feuding of the Middle Ages.
baro|ny /bæ rəni/ (baronies ) N‑COUNT A barony is the rank or position of a baron.
ba|roque /bərɒ k, [AM ] -roʊ k/
1 ADJ [ADJ n] Baroque architecture and art is an elaborate style of architecture and art that was popular in Europe in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. □ The baroque church of San Leonardo is worth a quick look. □ …a collection of treasures dating from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period. ● N‑SING The baroque style and period in art and architecture are sometimes referred to as the baroque . □ …the seventeenth-century taste for the baroque.
2 ADJ [ADJ n] Baroque music is a style of European music that was written in the 18th century.
bar|rack /bæ rək/ (barracks , barracking , barracked ) VERB If people in an audience barrack public speakers or performers, they interrupt them, for example by making rude remarks. [BRIT ] □ [V n] Fans gained more enjoyment barracking him than cheering on the team. ● bar|rack|ing N‑UNCOUNT □ He was affected badly by the barracking that he got from the crowd.
bar|racks /bæ rəks/ N‑COUNT [oft in names] A barracks is a building or group of buildings where soldiers or other members of the armed forces live and work. ‘Barracks’ is the singular and plural form. □ …an army barracks in the north of the city.
bar|ra|cu|da /bæ rəkjuː də, [AM ] -kuː -/ (barracudas or barracuda ) N‑COUNT A barracuda is a large tropical sea fish that eats other fish.
bar|rage /bæ rɑːʒ, [AM ] bərɑː ʒ/ (barrages , barraging , barraged ) Pronounced /bɑː r I dʒ/ for meaning 4 in American English. 1 N‑COUNT A barrage is continuous firing on an area with large guns and tanks. □ The two fighters were driven off by a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.
2 N‑COUNT [usu sing] A barrage of something such as criticism or complaints is a large number of them directed at someone, often in an aggressive way. □ [+ of ] He was faced with a barrage of angry questions from the floor.
3 VERB [usu passive] If you are barraged by people or things, you have to deal with a great number of people or things you would rather avoid. □ [be V -ed + by ] Doctors are complaining about being barraged by drug-company salesmen. □ [be V -ed + with ] He was barraged with calls from friends who were furious at the indiscreet disclosures.
4 N‑COUNT A barrage is a structure that is built across a river to control the level of the water. □ …a hydro-electric tidal barrage.
ba r|rage bal|loon (barrage balloons ) N‑COUNT Barrage balloons are large balloons which are fixed to the ground by strong steel cables. They are used in wartime, when the cables are intended to destroy low-flying enemy aircraft.
bar|rel ◆◇◇ /bæ rəl/ (barrels , barrelling , barrelled ) in AM, use barreling , barreled 1 N‑COUNT A barrel is a large, round container for liquids or food. □ The wine is aged for almost a year in oak barrels.
2 N‑COUNT In the oil industry, a barrel is a unit of measurement equal to 159 litres. □ [+ of ] Fully operational, the pipe can pump one million barrels of oil a day. □ Oil prices were closing at $19.76 a barrel.
3 N‑COUNT [n N ] The barrel of a gun is the tube through which the bullet moves when the gun is fired. □ [+ of ] He pushed the barrel of the gun into the other man's open mouth.
4 VERB If a vehicle or person is barrelling in a particular direction, they are moving very quickly in that direction. [mainly AM ] □ [V prep/adv] The car was barreling down the street at a crazy speed.
5 → see also pork barrel
6 PHRASE If you say, for example, that someone moves or buys something lock, stock, and barrel , you are emphasizing that they move or buy every part or item of it. [EMPHASIS ] □ They dug up their New Jersey garden and moved it lock, stock, and barrel back home.
7 PHRASE If you say that someone is scraping the barrel , or scraping the bottom of the barrel , you disapprove of the fact that they are using or doing something of extremely poor quality. [INFORMAL , DISAPPROVAL ]
-barrelled /-bæ rəld/ in AM, use -barreled 1 COMB -barrelled combines with adjectives to form adjectives that describe a gun which has a barrel or barrels of the specified type. □ …a short-barreled rifle. □ …a double-barrelled shotgun.
2 → see also double-barrelled
ba r|rel or|gan (barrel organs ) N‑COUNT A barrel organ is a large machine that plays music when you turn the handle on the side. Barrel organs used to be played in the street to entertain people.
bar|ren /bæ rən/
1 ADJ A barren landscape is dry and bare, and has very few plants and no trees. □ …the country's landscape of high barren mountains.
2 ADJ Barren land consists of soil that is so poor that plants cannot grow in it. □ He also wants to use the water to irrigate barren desert land.
3 ADJ If you describe something such as an activity or a period of your life as barren , you mean that you achieve no success during it or that it has no useful results. [WRITTEN ] □ [+ of ] …politics that are banal and barren of purpose. □ …the player, who ended a 14-month barren spell by winning the Tokyo event in October.
4 ADJ If you describe a room or a place as barren , you do not like it because it has almost no furniture or other objects in it. [WRITTEN , DISAPPROVAL ] □ [+ of ] The room was austere, nearly barren of furniture or decoration.