bar

noun44

1. •
   A solid, more or less rigid object of metal or wood with a uniform cross-section smaller than its length.

   • The window was protected by steel bars.
2. •
   a business that sells beer, wine and other drinks with alcohol for people to drink there

   • The street was lined with all-night bars.
3. •
   The counter of such premises.

   • Step up to the bar and order a drink.
4. •
   A counter, or simply a cabinet, from which alcoholic drinks are served in a private house or a hotel room.
5. •
   [in compounds] Premises or a counter serving any type of beverage.
6. •
   An informal establishment selling food to be consumed on the premises.
7. •
   An establishment offering cosmetic services.
8. •
   A solid metal object with uniform (round, square, hexagonal, octagonal or rectangular) cross-section; in the US its smallest dimension is ¹⁄₄ inch or greater, a piece of thinner material being called a strip.

   • Ancient Sparta used iron bars instead of handy coins in more valuable alloy, to physically discourage the use of money.
   • We are expecting a carload of bar tomorrow.
9. •
   A drilling or tamping rod.
10. •
    A cuboid piece of any solid commodity.
11. •
    A broad shaft, band, or stripe.
12. •
    A long, narrow drawn or printed rectangle, cuboid or cylinder, especially as used in a bar code or a bar chart.
13. •
    One of an array of bar-shaped symbols that display the level of something, such as wireless signal strength or battery life remaining.

    • I don't have any bars in the middle of this desert.
14. •
    An official order or pronouncement that prohibits some activity.

    • The club has lifted its bar on women members.
15. •
    Anything that obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier.

    • Must I new bars to my own joy create? — 1675
16. •
    Collectively, lawyers or the legal profession; specifically applied to barristers in some countries, but including all lawyers in others.

    • He was called to the bar.
17. •
    One of those musical sections.
18. •
    A horizontal pole that must be crossed in the high jump and pole vault.
19. •
    The crossbar.

    • Composed play then saw Sam Ricketts nutmeg Ashley Cole before Taylor whipped a fine curling effort over Petr Cech's bar. — 2010
20. •
    (figurative) Any level of achievement regarded as a challenge to be overcome; a standard or expectation.

    • […] there’s no World War III now, but in the words of the prominent Never Trumper and Atlantic contributor Eliot Cohen, “that’s a pretty low bar.” — 2020
21. •
    (US, Philippines) The bar exam, the legal licensing exam.

    • He's studying hard to pass the Bar this time; he's failed it twice before.
22. •
    A non-SI unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals, slightly less than atmospheric pressure at sea level.
23. •
    A vertical line across a musical staff dividing written music into sections, typically of equal durational value.
24. •
    [in the plural] (slang) Hip-hop lyrics, especially ones written and delivered skillfully.

    • That rapper there, yeah, he got bars.
25. •
    [in the plural] (slang) Something well-said or well-written.

    • His musical journey, and this is a quote, is “a constant push and pull between self awareness and delusion”. That’s bars right there to be honest. — 2025
26. •
    Any of various lines used as punctuation or diacritics, such as the pipe ⟨|⟩, fraction bar (as in 12), and strikethrough (as in Ⱥ), formerly (obsolete) including oblique marks such as the slash.
27. •
    The sign indicating that the characteristic of a logarithm is negative, conventionally placed above the digit(s) to show that it applies to the characteristic only and not to the mantissa.
28. •
    A similar sign indicating that the charge on a particle is the negative of its usual value (and that consequently the particle is in fact an antiparticle).
29. •
    (UK) A dividing line (physical or notional) in the chamber of a legislature beyond which only members and officials may pass.
30. •
    The railing surrounding the part of a courtroom in which the judges, lawyers, defendants and witnesses stay.
31. •
    A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance.
32. •
    A linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water; a formation extending across the mouth of a river or harbor or off a beach, and which may obstruct navigation. (FM 55-501).

    • Travellers change at Batoum into a steamer which performs the service between that port and Poti, and which has a less draught of water to enable it to cross the bar of the river Rion. — 1868
33. •
    An addition to a military medal, on account of a subsequent act.
34. •
    A small, tablet-shaped dose of Xanax, typically containing two milligrams and able to be split into quarters.
35. •
    A metasyntactic variable representing an unspecified entity, often the second in a series, following foo.

    • Suppose we have four objects, foo, bar, baz and quux.
36. •
    A city gate, in some British place names.
37. •
    A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.
38. •
    (slang) A measure of drugs, typically one ounce.

    • Tell Sick Boy tae gie us a bell if ye see um. The bastard owes us twenty fuckin bar. — 1994
39. •
    The central divider between the inner and outer table of a backgammon board, where stones are placed if they are hit.
40. •
    One of the ordinaries in heraldry; a diminutive of a fess.

    • On the fesse are two bars wavy azure for waterways. — 1957
41. •
    [in the plural] The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed.
42. •
    The part of the crust of a horse's hoof which is bent inwards towards the frog at the heel on each side, and extends into the centre of the sole.
43. •
    A vein or dike crossing a lode.
44. •
    (dialect, no longer used) A bear.

verb4

1. •
   To obstruct the passage of (someone or something).

   • Our way was barred by a huge rockfall.
2. •
   To prohibit.

   • I couldn't get into the nightclub because I had been barred.
3. •
   To lock or bolt with a bar.
4. •
   To imprint or paint with bars, to stripe.

adverb1

1. •
   Denotes the minimum odds offered on other horses not mentioned by name.

   • Leg At Each Corner is at 3/1, Lost My Shirt 5/1, and it's 10/1 bar.

preposition1

1. •
   Except, other than, besides.

   • He invited everyone to his wedding bar his ex-wife.

noun1

1. •
   Abbreviation of barrel

adjective1

1. •
   (slang) Acronym of bright, alert, responsive.

   • Anytime you notice your horse is ADR instead of BAR, it's time to get on the phone to your vet. — 2018

noun1

1. •
   Initialism of Browning automatic rifle.

noun1

1. •
   Abbreviation of baritone horn.