Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A goblin in English folklore, often appearing in the shape of a large dog and believed to portend imminent death or misfortune.

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

  • noun A goblin, in the shape of a large dog, portending misfortune.

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

  • noun UK A legendary monstrous black dog with huge teeth and claws.
  • noun UK A ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[bar (perhaps from barrow) + ghest, ghost (dialectal variant of ghost).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Disputed; perhaps burh-ghest, town-ghost, or German Berg-geist (mountain spirit) or Bär-geist (bear-spirit).

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Examples

  • The barghest has a kinsman in the Rongeur d'Os of Norman folklore.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" Various

  • She's created a world so nuanced and believable, I half-expect to see barghest hounds on my next trip to the mall.

    Even More Blurbs! -- Double Coolation!! arhyalon 2008

  • This was mainly due to Jane herself, the barghest Anyan, and the plethora of supernatural which fortunately was not limited to just the typical vampires and werewolves.

    Archive 2009-10-01 Kristen 2009

  • Anyan, the barghest, is one of those mysterious characters and there are a few intriguing hints about him that are dropped here and there.

    Archive 2009-10-01 Kristen 2009

  • This was mainly due to Jane herself, the barghest Anyan, and the plethora of supernatural which fortunately was not limited to just the typical vampires and werewolves.

    Reviews of fantasy and science fiction books Kristen 2009

  • Anyan, the barghest, is one of those mysterious characters and there are a few intriguing hints about him that are dropped here and there.

    Reviews of fantasy and science fiction books Kristen 2009

  • Yes, there was one vampire and I am started to get a bit tired of vampires at this point, especially since I was never a big fan of them in the first place, but this supernatural world also contains kelpies, selkies, gnomes, djinn, nahual, a barghest, and nagas.

    Archive 2009-10-01 Kristen 2009

  • Yes, there was one vampire and I am started to get a bit tired of vampires at this point, especially since I was never a big fan of them in the first place, but this supernatural world also contains kelpies, selkies, gnomes, djinn, nahual, a barghest, and nagas.

    Reviews of fantasy and science fiction books Kristen 2009

  • Let me see... there was the barghest, and although it kept creating illusions of itself to fool us, and I wasted a Flame Strike on it, we defeated it eventually.

    gloriagoodbody: The passing of another noble companion. gloriagoodbody 2005

  • Well, one barghest, but the point was that there was the illusionary one and then there was the real one and there were elves and I shot at the elves and they fell over and then Duncan got attacked and fell off the roof and Miriam grabbed him and I healed him as best as I could and then we ran like crazy.

    gloriagoodbody: Monkey business. gloriagoodbody 2005

Comments

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  • i think my dog is a barghest

    August 24, 2011

  • The English keep a catalogue

    Of monsters who lurk in the fog,

    And fiercest and largest,

    The black northern barghest,

    is an ominous uncanny dog.

    October 31, 2014