barb

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A sharp point projecting in reverse direction to the main point of a weapon or tool, as on an arrow or fishhook.
2. n. A cutting remark.
3. n. Zoology One of the parallel filaments projecting from the main shaft of a feather.
4. n. Botany A short, sharply hooked bristle or hairlike projection.
5. n. See barbel¹.
6. n. Any of various Old World freshwater fishes of the genus Barbus or Puntius and related genera.
7. n. A linen covering for a woman's head, throat, and chin worn in medieval times.
8. v. To provide or furnish with a barb.
9. n. A horse of a breed introduced by the Moors into Spain from northern Africa that resembles the Arabians and is known for its speed and endurance.
10. n. One of a breed of domestic pigeons that is similar to the carrier and has dark plumage.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A beard; anything which resembles a beard or grows in the place of it.
2. n. In botany, a terminal tuft of hairs; a beard; more usually, a retrorse tooth or double tooth terminating an awn or prickle.
3. n. In ornithology, one of the processes, of the first order, given off by the rachis of a feather.
4. n. One of the sharp points projecting backward from the penetrating extremity of an arrow, fish-hook, or other instrument for piercing, intended to fix it in place; a beard.
5. n. A linen covering for the throat and breast, sometimes also for the lower part of the face, worn by women throughout the middle ages in western Europe. It was at times peculiar to nuns or women in mourning.
6. n. A band or small scarf of lace, or other fine material, worn by women at the neck or as a headdress.
7. n. Same as barbel, 3.
8. n. In heraldry, one of the five leaves of the calyx which project beyond and between the petals of the heraldic rose. See barbed, 3.
9. n. A bur or roughness produced in the course of metal-working, as in coining and engraving.
10. n. A military term used in the phrase to fire in barb, in barbette, or en barbe, that is, to fire cannon over the parapet instead of through the embrasures.
11. n. Also spelled barbe.
12. To shave; dress the beard.
13. To pare or shave close to the surface; mow.
14. To clip, as gold.
15. To furnish with barbs, as an arrow, fish-hook, spear, or other instrument.
16. To shave.
17. n. Same as bard, n.
18. Same as bard, verb
19. n. A horse of the breed introduced by the Moors into Spain from Barbary and Morocco, and remarkable for speed, endurance, and docility. In Spain this noble race has degenerated, and true barbs are rare even in their native country.
20. n. A breed of domestic pigeons having a short broad beak, classed by Darwin with the carriers and runts. Also called barb-pigeon, Barbary pigeon, and Barbary carrier.
21. n. A sciænoid fish, Menticirrus alburnus, better known as kingfish. See kingfish.
22. To bend or hook the points of wire teeth in the card-clothing used in carding textile fibers.

Wiktionary

1. n. The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
2. n. figuratively A hurtful or disparaging remark.
3. n. A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
4. n. Armor for a horse, corrupted from bard.
5. n. ornithology One of the side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.
6. n. zoology Several species of freshwater fish of the cyprinid family.
7. n. zoology A southern name for the kingfishes of the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States; -- also improperly called whiting.
8. n. botany A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.
9. n. zoology A blackish or dun variety of the pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.
10. n. obsolete A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.
11. n. obsolete A bit for a horse.
12. n. A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging.
13. v. To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.
14. v. To cover a horse in armor, corrupted from bard.
15. v. obsolete To shave or dress the beard of.
16. v. obsolete To clip; to mow.
17. n. The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduces from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
2. n. obsolete A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.
3. n. Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen.
4. n. The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
5. n. obsolete A bit for a horse.
6. n. (Zoöl.) One of the side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane. See Feather.
7. n. (Zoöl.) A southern name for the kingfishes of the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States; -- also improperly called whiting.
8. n. (Bot.) A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.
9. v. obsolete To shave or dress the beard of.
10. v. obsolete To clip; to mow.
11. v. To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.
12. n. The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.
13. n. (Zoöl.) A blackish or dun variety of the pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.
14. n. Armor for a horse. Same as 2d bard, n., 1.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. provide with barbs
2. n. the pointed part of barbed wire
3. n. an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect
4. n. one of the parallel filaments projecting from the main shaft of a feather
5. n. a subsidiary point facing opposite from the main point that makes an arrowhead or spear hard to remove