B'ARB, n. L.barba This is beard, with a different ending. The sense may be, that which shoots out.
1. Beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it as the barb of a fish, the smaller claws of the polypus,&c.
2. The down, or pubes, covering the surface of some plants or rather, a tuft or bunch of strong hairs terminating leaves.
3. Anciently, armor for horses formerly, barbe or barde.
4. A common name of the barbary pigeon, a bird of a black or dun color.
5. A horse from Barbary, of which it seems to be a contraction.
6. The points that stand backward in an arrow, fish-hook or other instrument for piercing, intended to prevent its being extracted.
7. In botany, a straight process armed with teeth pointing backward like the sting of a bee. This is one sort of pubescence.