Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Barbel
Bar′bel
(bär′bĕl)
, Noun.
1.
(Zool.)
A slender tactile organ on the lips of certain fishes.
2.
(Zool.)
A large fresh-water fish (
Barbus vulgaris
) found in many European rivers. Its upper jaw is furnished with four barbels. Webster 1828 Edition
Barbel
B'ARBEL
,Noun.
1.
A fish of the genus Cyprinus, of the order of abdominals. The mouth is toothless; the gill has three rays; the body is smooth and white. This fish is about three feet long, and weighs 18 pounds. It is a very coarse fish, living in deep still rivers and rooting like swine in the soft banks. Its dorsal fin is armed with a strong spine, sharply serrated, from which circumstance it probably received its name.2.
A knot of superfluous flesh, growing in the channels of a horse's mouth; written also barble, or barb.Definition 2024
barbel
barbel
See also: Bärbel
English
Alternative forms
Noun
barbel (plural barbels)
- A freshwater fish of the genus Barbus.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.12:
- The Barble fishes, if one of them chance to be engaged, will set the line against their backes, and with a fin they have, toothed like a sharp saw, presently saw and fret the same asunder.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.12:
- (biology) Whisker-like sensory organs, located around the mouth of certain fish, including catfish, carp, goatfish, sturgeon, and some types of shark.
- A barb or pap under the tongues of horses and cattle.
Translations
fish
Anagrams
Old French
Etymology 1
Noun
barbel m (oblique plural barbeaus or barbeax or barbiaus or barbiax or barbels, nominative singular barbeaus or barbeax or barbiaus or barbiax or barbels, nominative plural barbel)
- barb (something which stands out with a sharp point)
Descendants
- French: barbelé
Etymology 2
From Vulgar Latin *barbellus, from Late Latin barbulus, diminutive of Latin barbus (“a type of fish”).
Noun
barbel m (oblique plural barbeaus or barbeax or barbiaus or barbiax or barbels, nominative singular barbeaus or barbeax or barbiaus or barbiax or barbels, nominative plural barbel)
- barbel (fish)
Descendants
References
- (fr) Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (barbel)