Bar″ren (băr″ren), a. [OE. barein, OF. brehaing, fem. brehaigne, baraigne, F. bréhaigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. brékhañ, markhañ, sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting.] 1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; — said of women and female animals.
She was barren of children. Bp. Hall.
2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; sterile. “Barren mountain tracts.” Macaulay.
3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.
Brilliant but barren reveries.
Prescott.
Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter.
Swift.
4. Mentally dull; stupid. Shak.
Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which has neither stamens nor pistils. — Barren Grounds(Geog.), a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions. — Barren Ground bear(Zoöl.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe. — Barren Ground caribou(Zoöl.), a small reindeer (Rangifer Grœnlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.