Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- A region of northern Africa on the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean. Settled by Berbers in the 2nd millennium BC, it was conquered by Arabs in the 7th century AD. From the 16th to the 19th century it was used as a base by pirates who raided ships in the Mediterranean Sea and exacted tribute from the European powers trading in the area.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Foreign or barbarous nationality; paganism; heathenism.
- noun Barbarity; barbarism.
- noun Barbarous speech.
- noun A Barbary horse; a barb. See
barb , 1.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete, obsolete, obsolete The countries on the north coast of Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic.
- noun (Zoöl.) an ape (
Macacus innuus ) of north Africa and Gibraltar Rock, being the only monkey inhabiting Europe. It is very commonly trained by showmen.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun The
Mediterranean coastal areas ofNorth Africa that were used as a base bypirates in the 16th to 19th centuries.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun 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 Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The claim is based on the word "Barbary," the name the woman is given in some modern texts of or references to "Othello."
So It Wasn't Jealousy After All? David Littlejohn 2011
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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").
So It Wasn't Jealousy After All? David Littlejohn 2011
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“Jilbáb,” a long coarse veil or gown which in Barbary becomes a “Jallábiyah,” in a striped and hooded cloak of woollen stuff.
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From the earliest period known to history, Morocco has been inhabited by the Berbers (whence the name Barbary).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913
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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.
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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.
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It once was the stronghold of North African corsairs, better known as Barbary pirates, who roamed the Mediterranean several hundred years ago.
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It once was the stronghold of North African corsairs, better known as Barbary pirates, who roamed the Mediterranean several hundred years ago.
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It once was the stronghold of North African corsairs, better known as Barbary pirates, who roamed the Mediterranean several hundred years ago.
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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.
LIGHTING OUT FOR THE TERRITORY JR. ROY MORRIS 2010
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