Dictionary entry

Bar (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Bar (bär), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Barred (bärd); p. pr. & vb. n.Barring.] [F. barrer. See Bar, n.] 1. To fasten with a bar; as, to bar a door or gate.

2. To restrict or confine, as if by a bar; to hinder; to obstruct; to prevent; to prohibit; as, to bar the entrance of evil; distance bars our intercourse; the statute bars my right; the right is barred by time; a release bars the plaintiff's recovery; — sometimes with up.

He barely looked the idea in the face, and hastened to bar it in its dungeon.

Hawthorne.

3. To except; to exclude by exception.

Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gauge me

By what we do to-night.

Shak.

4. To cross with one or more stripes or lines.

For the sake of distinguishing the feet more clearly, I have barred them singly.

Burney.