barb

Etymology 1

PIE word *bʰardʰéh₂ From Middle English barbe, from Middle French barbe, from Old French barbe (“beard, beard-like element”). Doublet of beard.

noun

1. The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
   Having two barbs or points. 1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus
2. (figurative) A hurtful or disparaging remark.
   to trade barbs
   “Maybe I just wanted to come and see for myself if you were real. Or if you were a figment of my imagination.” The barb hurt, but she didn't blame him. 2018, Elle Wright, Wherever You Are (The Jacksons of Ann Arbor), HarperCollins
   His barbs about fake accounts have weakened trust in Twitter, just as the company prepares to moderate heated political discussions about an upcoming election in Brazil and the midterm elections this fall in the United States, misinformation experts said. 2022-07-11, Kate Conger, Mike Isaac, “How Elon Musk Damaged Twitter and Left It Worse Off”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
3. A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
4. (ornithology) One of the many side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.
5. (ichthyology) Any of various species of freshwater carp-like fish that have barbels and belong to the cyprinid family.
6. (US) The sciaenid fish Menticirrhus americanus, found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.
7. (botany) A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.
8. (obsolete) A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.
9. Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen.
10. (obsolete) A bit for a horse.
11. A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging.

verb

1. To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.
   Undoubtedly—when Ingratitude barbs the Dart of Injury—the wound has double danger in it 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.iii
   Her coat was a tangled mass, barbed with last year's burs, matted disgustingly with cow dung. 1944, Emily Carr, “Meg the Worker”, in The House of All Sorts
2. (Nigeria) To cut (hair).
3. (obsolete) To shave or dress the beard of.
4. (obsolete) To clip; to mow.

Etymology 2

Clipping of Barbary.

noun

1. The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.
   However, in the last few years, the stud farms in Morocco and elsewhere in the world have rediscovered the qualities of the barb, which, in Berber tradition, remains the king of the "fantasias", a festival that is also becoming fashionable once again. 2009 October, Laurent Roustan, “The Horse, Present since the Dawn of Time”, in Alphatrad Internationale, transl., Au Royaume du Cheval: Les Haras Nationaux du Maroc [In the Kingdom of the Horse: The National Studs of Morocco], Souyri, Aveyron, France: Editions Au fil du Temps
2. A blackish or dun variety of pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.

Etymology 3

Clipping of barbiturate.

noun

1. (informal, pharmacology) A barbiturate.
   Coordinate term: benzo
   The benzos, it turns out, are just as highly addicting as the barbs, but they do have a much lower potential to cause death by overdose. […] The barbs became one of the most widely abused classes of drugs in the 1960s and 1970s. 1998, Jerry Dorsman, How to Quit Drugs for Good: A Complete Self-Help Guide, New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, page 50

Etymology 4

Corruption of bard.

noun

1. Armor for a horse.
   The defensive armor with the horses of the ancient knights ... These are frequently, though improperly, stiled barbs. 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 29

verb

1. To cover a horse in armor.