barley Hear it!

barley Definition

bar·ley (bär′lē)

noun

  1. a cereal grass (Hordeum vulgare and related species) with dense, bearded spikes of flowers, each made up of three single-seeded spikelets
  2. its grain, used in making malt, soups, etc.

Etymology: ME barli < OE bærlic, of barley < bere, barley + -lic ( -ly) < IE base *bhares- > farina, ON barr, grain

barley Synonyms

barley

n.

small grain, barleycorn, cereal; see grain 1.

barley Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • malt: English ale was made with malted barley or even oats, not hops.
  • sprout: The sprouting barley is turned by a machine resembling a lawn-mower.
  • sow: In other fields autumn sown barley is already nearly ripe.
  • roast: Guinness Red, a new product made from lightly roasted barley, will be launched in the UK over the next few months.
  • grow: Growing barley in most farms in Scotland is a loss making exercise.
  • dry: In earlier times this had been used to dry barley when the Dirleton Granary occupied this site.

Adjective modifier

  • pearl: Whole wheat, brown rice, pearl barley, oats, bulgur wheat.
  • wheat: The soil and sub-soil are clay, and the chief crops grown are wheat, barley, beans and peas.
  • transgenic: Analysis of transgenic barley in a small scale field trial.

Modifies a noun

  • cultivar: Several winter barley cultivars displayed good levels of resistance in field nurseries.
  • malt: Offer it warm with rice syrup or barley malt added.
  • stubble: They have also used the machine for drilling turnips straight on to winter barley stubble.
  • straw: The straw I was using I felt was good quality barley straw which didnt seem too dusty?
  • mildew: Barley mildew isolates continue to become more complex, the majority carrying eight or more virulence factors.
  • loaf: So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten.

Noun used with modifier

  • malting: Did farmers tell you where their nearest homes for milling wheat & malting barley are?
  • spring: In the first place there was the problem over how much spring barley to sow.
  • winter: Crops Winter wheat, winter barley & winter oats.
  • feed: Feed barley can give higher yields per acre of both grain and straw.
  • quality: The straw I was using I felt was good quality barley straw which didnt seem too dusty?
barley Quotes

Only reapers, reaping early In among the bearded barley, Hear a song that echoes cheerly From the river winding clearly, Down to towered Camelot.

—Tennyson

On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And through the field the road runs by To many-towered Camelot.

—Tennyson

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs, An'corn rigs are bonie: I'll ne'er forget that happy night, Amang the rigs wi'Annie.

—Burns, Robert

He that lives in sin and looks for happiness hereafter is likehimthat soweth cockleand thinkstofill hisbarnwith wheat or barley.

—Bunyan,John

   We are na fou, we're nae that fou, But just a drappie in our e'e; The cock may craw, the day may daw, And ay we'll taste the barley bree.

—Burns, Robert