Bar

Bar, bär, n. a rod of any solid substance: a bolt: a hindrance or obstruction—the barrier of a city or street, as the bars of York, Temple Bar, a toll-bar: a bank of sand or other matter at the mouth of a river: any terminus or limit (of life)—e.g. as in To cross the bar: the railing that encloses a space in a tavern, the counter across which drinks are served, a public-house: the wooden rail dividing off the judge's seat, at which prisoners are placed for arraignment or sentence—hence, To appear at the bar, To pass the bar = to be formally referred for trial from a lower court to a higher: any tribunal: the pleaders in a court as distinguished from the judges: a division in music.—v.t. to fasten or secure, as with a bar: to hinder or exclude:—pr.p. bar′ring; pa.p. barred.—ns. Bar′-ī′ron, iron in malleable bars; Bar′maid, a female waiter at the bar of a tavern or hotel.—prep. Bar′ring, excepting, saving.—ns. Bar′ring-out, the shutting of the school-room doors and windows by the pupils against the master, in order to enforce assent to their demands; Bar′wood, a kind of red dye-wood imported from Africa in bars. [O. Fr. barre—Low L. barra, perh. of Celt. origin.]