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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Scots A child.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A child; a son or daughter. See barn.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A child or baby.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A child.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a child: son or daughter

Etymologies

  1. Middle English barn, from Old English bearn; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “She heard herself remonstrating, "Sir, ye canna force your ain bairn, to make her meeserable," and the response, "What the deevil have you to do with it, if I make her meeserable or no?”

    Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago

  • “The bairn is clean out of her senses!" cried Marg'ret almost with a scream.”

    Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago

  • “Margaret, in reflecting on her four Samuels, wonders, "Do a wee but of a name change the plans o 'God? .... be God a weak, shilly-shallyun creature thot ud alter the fate an' destiny o 'thungs because Margaret Heenan seen fut till name her bairn Samuel?”

    “Samuel! There was a rolling wonder in the sound. Ay, there was!”

  • “Margaret Henan seen fut tull name her bairn Samuel?”

    Samuel

  • “An 'then I see Doctor Hall go away, wrunklun' hus eyebrows an 'shakun' hus head like the bairn was ailun '.”

    Samuel

  • “I needna tell ye I christened him Alick, and the bairn has been my joy and comfort ever since God gifted me with him.”

    Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places

  • “` ` The bairn was a blessing --- that is, Jeanie, it wad hae been a blessing if it hadna been for my mother; but my mother's a queer woman.”

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian

  • “An’ then I see Doctor Hall go away, wrunklun’ hus eyebrows an’ shakun’ hus head like the bairn was ailun’.”

    SAMUEL

  • “Do the world run by hut or muss, an’ be God a weak, shully-shallyun’ creature thot ud alter the fate an’ destiny o’ thungs because the worm Margaret Henan seen fut tull name her bairn Samuel?”

    SAMUEL

  • “She listened to Lisbeth's cheerful chatter as she bustled about the room, encouraging her "bairn" to try a piece of this, a "wee bit scrappie" of that, till Marjory told her that she simply couldn't eat any more.”

    Hunter's Marjory A Story for Girls

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

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‘bairn’ has been looked up 1537 times, added to 14 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 7.