BARRIER • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Barrier

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/bˈæriər/ /bˈɛriər/ Listen

noun

Barrier n.

(Fort.) A carpentry obstruction, stockade, or other obstacle made in a passage in order to stop an enemy.

A fortress or fortified town, on the frontier of a country, commanding an avenue of approach.

pl. A fence or railing to mark the limits of a place, or to keep back a crowd. "No sooner were the barriers opened, than he paced into the lists."

Any obstruction; anything which hinders approach or attack. "Constitutional barriers."

Any limit or boundary; a line of separation. "'Twixt that (instinct) and reason, what a nice barrier!"

Barrier gate, a heavy gate to close the opening through a barrier.

Barrier reef, a form of coral reef which runs in the general direction of the shore, and incloses a lagoon channel more or less extensive.

To fight at barriers, to fight with a barrier between, as a martial exercise. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Barrier'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Barrier" Quotes from Famous Books

... colonizers, the individual's Civis Romanus sum—I am a Roman citizen—was something more than verbal vapouring; it was a protective talisman—a buckler no less than a sword. Yet was the possession of this noble and singular privilege no barrier to Roman citizens meeting on a broad humanitarian level any alien race, either allied to or under the protection of that world-famous commonwealth. In the speeches of the foremost orators and statesmen among the conquerors of the then known world, the allusions to subject or ...

— West Indian Fables by James Anthony Froude Explained by J. J. Thomas • J. J. (John Jacob) Thomas

... republic, are of deep alluvion. The same is true between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Between the two lies the broad belt, of comparative desert, which is the scene of this tale, appearing to interpose a barrier to the progress of ...

— The Prairie • J. Fenimore Cooper

... thing and quite without any bearing on this affair. But it has been a great trouble to me since it has to some extent put a barrier between Reuben and me; and we used to be such close friends. And I have blamed myself for letting it influence me—perhaps unjustly—in my opinion of him. I will tell you about it, though I expect you ...

— The Red Thumb Mark • R. Austin Freeman

... help an exclamation of delight at what she saw. The rock was so high that they could look out over the treetops clear to the slope where the little gray house stood. The waterfall, plunging from a still higher level, made a barrier on one side of them, and on the other side the cliff rose, a sheer wall of rock. Between the wall of water and the wall of rock there was a cave extending into the solid rock for a distance of about twenty ...

— The Scotch Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins

... was suffered to grow up in his kingdom. But whatever might be the origin, the effect was, to break off the intercourse with France and her corruptions, and to exhibit a new energy and purity in the people. Cromwell raised a sudden barrier against France by his political system, and the nation recovered its daring and its character in its contempt for ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 62, No. 384, October 1847 • Various

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