Adjacent Words

Barnacle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

B'ARNACLE, n. [L.perna, a shell-fish.]
1. A shell which is often found on the bottoms of ships, rocks and timber, below the surface of the sea.
2. A species of goose, found in the northern seas, but visiting more southern climates in winter. The forehead and cheeks are white, but the upper part of the body and neck is black. Formerly, a strange notion prevailed, that these birds grew out of wood, or rather out of the barnacles attached to wood in the sea. Hence the name. It is written also Bernacle.
3. In the plural, an instrument consisting of two branches jointed at one end with a hinge, to put upon a horse's nose, to confine him, for shoeing, bleeding, or dressing.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages; free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and live attached to submerged surfaces [syn: barnacle, cirriped, cirripede]
2: European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far north [syn: barnacle goose, barnacle, Branta leucopsis]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English barnakille, alteration of bernake, bernekke Date: 15th century 1. barnacle goose 2. [from a popular belief that the goose grew from the crustacean] any of numerous marine crustaceans (subclass Cirripedia) with feathery appendages for gathering food that are free-swimming as larvae but permanently fixed (as to rocks, boat hulls, or whales) as adults • barnacled adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 any of various species of small marine crustaceans of the class Cirripedia which in adult form cling to rocks, ships' bottoms, etc. 2 a tenacious attendant or follower who cannot easily be shaken off. Phrases and idioms: barnacle goose an Arctic goose, Branta leucopsis, which visits Britain in winter. Derivatives: barnacled adj. Etymology: ME bernak (= med.L bernaca), of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Barnacle Bar"na*cle, n. [See Bernicle.] A bernicle goose.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Barnacle Bar"na*cle, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac, and Prov. F. (Berri) berniques, spectacles.] 1. pl. (Far.) An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and thus restraining him. Note: [Formerly used in the sing.] The barnacles . . . give pain almost equal to that of the switch. --Youatt. 2. pl. Spectacles; -- so called from their resemblance to the barnacles used by farriers. [Cant, Eng.] --Dickens.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Barnacle Bar"na*cle, n. [Prob. from E. barnacle a kind of goose, which was popularly supposed to grow from this shellfish; but perh. from LL. bernacula for pernacula, dim. of perna ham, sea mussel; cf. Gr. ? ham Cf. F. bernacle, barnacle, E. barnacle a goose; and Ir. bairneach, barneach, limpet.] (Zo["o]l.) Any cirriped crustacean adhering to rocks, floating timber, ships, etc., esp. (a) the sessile species (genus Balanus and allies), and (b) the stalked or goose barnacles (genus Lepas and allies). See Cirripedia, and Goose barnacle. Barnacle eater (Zo["o]l.), the orange filefish. Barnacle scale (Zo["o]l.), a bark louse (Ceroplastes cirripediformis) of the orange and quince trees in Florida. The female scale curiously resembles a sessile barnacle in form.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bernicle Ber"ni*cle, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac; prob. fr. LL. bernacula for hibernicula, bernicula, fr. Hibernia; the birds coming from Hibernia or Ireland. Cf. 1st Barnacle.] A bernicle goose. [Written also barnacle.] Bernicle goose (Zo["o]l.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(barnacles) Barnacles are small shellfish that fix themselves tightly to rocks and the bottoms of boats. N-COUNT

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A good job, or snack easily got: also shellfish growing at the bottoms of ships; a bird of the goose kind; an instrument like a pair of pincers, to fix on the noses of vicious horses whilst shoeing; a nick name for spectacles, and also for the gratuity given to grooms by the buyers and sellers of horses.

Moby Thesaurus

adherent, adhesive, beat, bloodsucker, bramble, brier, bulldog, burr, cement, deadbeat, decal, decalcomania, freeloader, glue, gunk, hanger-on, leech, limpet, lounge lizard, molasses, mucilage, parasite, paste, plaster, prickle, remora, smell-feast, spiv, sponge, sponger, sticker, sucker, syrup, thorn