bar

English has two main words spelled bar: the rod or barrier, with its many extended senses, and the unit of pressure, from Greek.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /bɑː/, US /bɑːr/^[4]

bar¹ rod, barrier

Etymology

The rod is inherited from Middle English barre,^[5][3] borrowed from Old French barre (“beam, bar, gate, barrier”),^[6][5] from Vulgar Latin *barra (“bar, barrier”),^[6][5] of unknown origin.^[2][1][7] Some derive it from a Gaulish *barros “the bushy end”, but the OED regards this as discredited because it does not suit the sense.^[6] Welsh bar and Irish barra are said to be from English, and German Barre and Russian bar from Medieval Latin or Romance.^[6] The verb is from Old French barrer, from barre.^[5][3] The preposition, “except”, is the imperative of the verb, probably on the model of except and save.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A barrier: probably before 1200;^[5] a bar to fasten a door or gate, late 12th century^[6] or before 1300,^[5] and a metal bar or pole by 1364.^[5] The verb, “to fasten with a bar”, is from about 1280.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its earliest use was for fastening a gate or door, and it soon named various kinds of barrier.^[7] As the place where the business of a court was done, bar was synonymous with court by the early 14th century,^[6] after the railing around the judge's seat, where prisoners stood.^[7][6] At the Inns of Court a bar separated benchers from the hall, and students were “called to the bar”;^[6][7] the whole body of barristers, the legal profession, is the Bar from the 1550s.^[6][7] A counter over which drink was served is from the 1590s, and hence the room or place itself.^[6][8] A bank of sand across a harbor mouth is from the 1580s,^[6] and anything that hinders is a bar from the 1530s.^[6] The verb's sense “to prohibit” is from the mid-16th century,^[7] and the preposition “except” from the early 18th century (1714),^[2][9] as in bar none.^[7] A bar of soap is by 1833 and of candy by 1906.^[6] Bar graph is from 1925, bar code from 1963, and behind bars by 1934.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1200 – a barrier.^[5]
• c. 1280 – verb, to fasten with a bar.^[5]
• early 14th century – a court of law.^[6]
• 1364 – a metal bar.^[5]
• 1530s – an obstruction.^[6]
• 1550s – the legal profession.^[6]
• 1580s – a sandbank.^[6]
• 1590s – a counter serving drink; a tavern.^[6]
• 1714 – preposition, except.^[9]
• 1833 – a bar of soap.^[6]
• 1963 – bar code.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long, straight, rigid piece of metal or wood, used as a fastener, support or barrier.
2. A solid oblong block of a substance: a bar of soap.
3. A place serving alcoholic drinks; the counter where they are served.
4. Something that prevents or obstructs; a barrier.
5. the Bar: The legal profession; lawyers collectively, especially barristers.
6. The railing in a court of law, where a prisoner stands.
7. (music) One of the equal units into which a piece is divided by vertical lines; a measure.
8. A band or stripe of colour.
9. A bank of sand or gravel across the mouth of a harbor or river.

Verb

1. To fasten with a bar.
2. To block or obstruct.
3. To exclude or prohibit.
4. To mark with stripes.

Preposition

1. Except; excluding: bar none.

Word family

• barring
• barred
• crowbar
• handlebar
• sidebar
• barroom
• bartender
• barman
• disbar

bar² unit of pressure

Etymology

The unit of pressure is from Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, “weight”),^[1][2] through German, according to Merriam-Webster.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A unit of pressure equal to one dyne per square centimetre: 1903.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In 1910 it was redefined, in meteorology, as a unit of barometric pressure of a million dynes per square centimetre,^[10] and it now equals 100,000 pascals, about 0.987 of an atmosphere.^[2] The millibar, a thousandth of a bar, is used on weather maps.^[1]

Timeline

• 1903 – one dyne per square centimetre.^[10]
• 1910 – a unit of barometric pressure.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals.

Word family

• millibar
• isobar

Related words

• barrier
• barrister
• embarrass
• barricade
• barometer
• baritone

Usage notes

Other words spelled bar include a large European fish, the meagre, from French bar (1724);^[10][2] the American mosquito bar, a mosquito net, from Louisiana French boire;^[2][3] and an old by-form of baron.^[10] In Scots a bar was an infant's flannel waistcoat.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)