Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- A region of northern Africa on the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean. Settled by Berbers in the 2nd millennium B.C., it was conquered by Arabs in the 7th century A.D. From the 16th to the 19th century it was used as a base by pirates who raided ships in the Mediterranean Sea and extracted tribute from the European powers trading in the area.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Foreign or barbarous nationality; paganism; heathenism.
- n. Barbarity; barbarism.
- n. Barbarous speech.
- n. A Barbary horse; a barb. See barb, 1.
Wiktionary
- n. The Mediterranean coastal areas of North Africa that were used as a base by pirates in the 16th to 19th centuries.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete, obsolete, obsolete The countries on the north coast of Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic. a kind of pigeon.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a region of northern Africa on the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Gibraltar; was used as a base for pirates from the 16th to 19th centuries
Etymologies
- From Berber, influenced by barbary ("barbarian, non-Christian") (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The claim is based on the word "Barbary," the name the woman is given in some modern texts of or references to "Othello.”
“In the First Folio (of 1623), when the editors want to refer to Africa they use the word "Barbary" (Iago calls Othello a "Barbary horse").”
““Jilbáb,” a long coarse veil or gown which in Barbary becomes a “Jallábiyah,” in a striped and hooded cloak of woollen stuff.”
“From the earliest period known to history, Morocco has been inhabited by the Berbers (whence the name Barbary).”
“MY Presence being no way serviceable to you in Barbary, and the Repose of my future Life calling me with the utmost Expectation to Fez, I humbly entreat your Permission to return thither.”
“Mauláya!” the term is still used throughout Moslem lands; but in Barbary where it is pronounced “Mooláee” Europeans have converted it to “Muley” as if it had some connection with the mule.”
“It once was the stronghold of North African corsairs, better known as Barbary pirates, who roamed the Mediterranean several hundred years ago.”
Voice of America: Activists Fight to Save Crumbling Algiers Casbah
“Not even the six major fires that raged through the city between 1848 and 1851—many of them set by an organized gang of transplanted Australian criminals known as the Sydney Ducks—could slow the explosive urban development, which stretched from the dockside red-light district known as the Barbary Coast to the nouveau riche mansions on 338-foot-high Nob Hill, located above Chinatown and the financial district.”
“But according to Boston University's World Religion Database, the Somali population is 99% Muslim, and the last time the U.S. was menaced by piracy, in the late 18th century, the so-called Barbary pirates of north Africa also operated out of Muslim havens.”
“These extortionists of the high seas represented the Islamic nations of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers—collectively referred to as the Barbary Coast—and presented a dangerous and unprovoked threat to the new American republic.”
Lists
‘Barbary’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Barbary.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.