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View synonyms for

barn

1

[ bahrn ]

noun

  1. a building for storing hay, grain, etc., and often for housing livestock.
  2. a very large garage for buses, trucks, etc.; carbarn.


verb (used with object)

  1. to store (hay, grain, etc.) in a barn.

barn

2

[ bahrn ]

noun

Physics.
  1. a unit of nuclear cross section, equal to 10 −24 square centimeter. : b

barn

1

/ ɑː /

noun

  1. a large farm outbuilding, used chiefly for storing hay, grain, etc, but also for housing livestock
  2. a large shed for sheltering railroad cars, trucks, etc
  3. any large building, esp an unattractive one
  4. modifier relating to a system of poultry farming in which birds are allowed to move freely within a barn

    barn eggs

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

barn

2

/ ɑː /

noun

  1. a unit of nuclear cross section equal to 10 28square metre b
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Other Word Forms

  • l adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of barn1

before 950; Middle English bern, Old English berern ( bere ( barley 1 ) + ern, ǣrn house, cognate with Old Frisian ī cowhouse, Old High German erin, Gothic razn, Old Norse rann house; ransack, rest 1 )

Origin of barn2

First recorded in 1945–50; special use of barn 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of barn1

Old English beren , from bere barley + æ room; see barley 1

Origin of barn2

C20: from barn 1; so called because of the relatively large cross section
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“MC5 were playing on the radio. He will ultimately be returned to his home, the farm in Pennsylvania, where he insisted he was to be ‘thrown in the barn.’”

From

Billy and Tina will be joining five other Asian elephants at the Tulsa Zoo, which recently expanded their elephant complex to include a 36,650-square-foot barn and a 10-acre wooded preserve.

From

In the converted barn's main room, Elizabethan ballads drifted through smoke-thick air as someone scattered chrysanthemum petals across a sheepskin rug.

From

But Corder shot and killed Miss Marten, burying her in the barn.

From

One of the first scenes the 21-year-old British actor shot for Season 2 is the fight in a barn seen in Sunday’s premiere.

From

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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barmyBarnabas