Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A hill or mountain: originally applied to hills or mountains of any height, even the greatest, but later restricted to lower elevations. In this sense the word survives only in provincial use or as a part of local names in England.
  • noun A mound; a heap. In particular A mound of earth or stones raised over a grave; a sepulchral mound; a tumulus.
  • noun A burrow or warren. See burrow, berry.
  • To wheel or convey in a barrow: as, to barrow coal in a pit.
  • noun A frame used by two or more men in carrying a load; formerly, any such frame, as a stretcher or bier; specifically, a flat rectangular frame of bars or boards, with projecting shafts or handles (in England called trams) at both ends, by which it is carried: usually called a hand-barrow.
  • noun A similar frame, generally used in the form of a shallow box with either flaring or upright sides, and supported in front formerly by two wheels, now by a single small wheel inserted between the front shafts, and pushed by one man, who supports the end opposite to the wheel by means of the rear shafts: usually called a wheelbarrow.
  • noun A frame or box of larger size, resting on an axle between two large wheels, and pushed or pulled by means of shafts at one end; a hand-cart: as, a costermonger's barrow.
  • noun A barrowful; the load carried in or on a barrow.
  • noun In salt-works, a wicker case in which the salt is put to drain.
  • noun The egg-case of a skate or a ray: so called from its resemblance to a hand-barrow.
  • noun A castrated boar. Also called barrow-pig or barrow-hog.
  • noun A wood or grove: a word surviving only in English local names, as Barrow-in-Furness, Barrowfield.
  • noun Same as barrow-coat.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A support having handles, and with or without a wheel, on which heavy or bulky things can be transported by hand. See handbarrow, and wheelbarrow.
  • noun (Salt Works) A wicker case, in which salt is put to drain.
  • noun A hog, esp. a male hog castrated.
  • noun A large mound of earth or stones over the remains of the dead; a tumulus.
  • noun (Mining) A heap of rubbish, attle, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A castrated boar.
  • noun A small vehicle used to carry a load and pulled or pushed by hand.
  • noun obsolete A mountain.
  • noun chiefly UK A hill.
  • noun A mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves.
  • noun mining A heap of rubbish, attle, or other such refuse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cart for carrying small loads; has handles and one or more wheels
  • noun the quantity that a barrow will hold
  • noun (archeology) a heap of earth placed over prehistoric tombs

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English bearg.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English berwe, bergh, from Old English beorg ("mountain, hill, mound, barrow, burial place"), from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (“mountain”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“height”), from *bʰeregʰ- (“high, elevated”). Cognate with Dutch berg ("mountain"), German Berg ("mountain"), Swedish berg ("mountain"), Icelandic berg, bjarg ("rock"), Russian берег (béreg, "bank, shore, land").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English barwe, barewe, barowe, from Old English bearwe ("basket, handbarrow"), from Proto-Germanic *barwōn, *barwijōn (“stretcher, bier”) (compare Eastern Frisian barwe, Low German Berwe, Old Norse barar (plural), Middle High German radebere ("wheelbarrow")), from *beranan (“to bear”). More at bear.

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Examples

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  • Among other things.

    January 3, 2007

  • "They covered the body of Achilles with wonderful raiment and over it they lamented for seventeen days and seventeen nights. On the eighteenth day he was laid in the grave beside Patroklos, his dear friend, and over them both the Greeks raised a barrow that was wondered at in the after-times."

    - Padraic Colum, 'The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy'.

    September 19, 2009