BARRENER

Etymology

Adjective

barrener

comparative form of barren

Noun

barrener (plural barreners)

A barren animal, one that cannot bear young.

Source: Wiktionary


BARREN

Bar"ren, a. Etym: [OE. barein, OF. brehaing, brehaigne, baraigne, F. bréhaigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. brékha, markha, sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting.]

1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; -- She was barren of children. Bp. Hall.

2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; "Barren mountain tracts." Macaulay.

3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty. Brilliant but barren reveries. Prescott. Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter. Swift.

4. Mentally dull; stupid. Shak. Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which as neither stamens nor pistils.

– Barren Grounds (Geog.), a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions.

– Barren Ground bear (Zoöl.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe.

– Barren Ground caribou (Zoöl.), a small reindeer (Rangifer Groenlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.

Bar"ren, n.

1. A tract of barren land.

2. pl.

Definition: Elevated lands or plains on which grow small trees, but not timber; as, pine barrens; oak barrens. They are not necessarily sterile, and are often fertile. [Amer.] J. Pickering.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

2 April 2025

COVERT

(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”


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