barker

noun9

1. •
   Someone or something who barks.

   • My neighbor's dog is a constant barker that keeps me awake at night.
2. •
   A person employed to solicit customers by calling out to passersby, e.g. at a carnival.

   • Bob had amassed a considerable stockpile of double entendres from his days working as a barker for a strip joint.
3. •
   A shelf-talker.
4. •
   A video game mode where the action is demonstrated to entice someone to play the game.

   • The barker looks action-packed, but actually playing the game is rather dull.
5. •
   A machine used to remove unneeded bark from wood.

   • Run these logs through the barker so we can use them as fence posts.
6. •
   (historical) A person who removes needed or valuable tree bark, as on a cinnamon or cinchona plantation.

   • The profession of barker has been made largely obsolete by the realization that in most cases saplings can be cultivated far more profitably.
7. •
   (slang, old-fashioned) A pistol.

   • Parkin, the Oxford Street gunmaker, sent me a brace of barkers in silver mountings, with my initials engraved—good for trade, I imagine. — 1969
8. •
   The spotted redshank.
9. •
   (no longer used) A tanner.

   • The profession of barker has been made largely obsolete by the introduction of more effective tanning agents, but it lives on as a surname.