barnacle

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English barnakille, from earlier bernake, bernekke, from Old French bernaque (“barnacle”), from Gaulish *barenica (“limpet”) (compare Welsh brennig, Irish báirneac), from *barenos (“rock”) (compare Old Irish barenn (“boulder”)); for sense development, compare Ancient Greek λέπας (lépas, “rock”) which gave λεπάς (lepás, “limpet”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈbɑː(ɹ)nəkəɫ/

Noun

barnacle (plural barnacles)

1. A marine crustacean of the subclass Cirripedia that attaches itself to submerged surfaces such as tidal rocks or the bottoms of ships.
2. The barnacle goose.
3. (engineering, slang) In electrical engineering, a change made to a product on the manufacturing floor that was not part of the original product design.
4. (computing, slang) On printed circuit boards, a change such as soldering a wire in order to connect two points, or addition such as an added resistor or capacitor, subassembly or daughterboard.
5. (obsolete) An instrument like a pair of pincers, to fix on the nose of a vicious horse while shoeing so as to make it more tractable.
6. (archaic, UK) A nickname for spectacles.
7. (slang, obsolete) A good job, or snack easily obtained.

Translations

marine crustacean

• Bulgarian: морски жълъд (bg) m (morski žǎlǎd)
• Catalan: percebe (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 藤壺 (cmn), 藤壶 (cmn) (ténghú)

• Dutch: zeepok (nl)
• Finnish: siimajalkainen (fi)
• French: pouce-pied (fr) m
• Galician: percebe m

• German: Rankenfüßer (de) m, Rankenfußkrebs (de) m, Seepocke (de) f
• Greek: λεπάς (el) (lepás) f , ανατίφη (el) (anatífi) f 
• Japanese: フジツボ (ja) (fujitsubo), 富士壺 (ja) (ふじつぼ, fujitsubo)
• Polish: pąkla (pl) f, wąsonóg (pl) m
• Russian: морская уточка (ru) (morskája útočka) f 
• Scottish Gaelic: giùran (gd) m
• Spanish: percebe (es) m

barnacle goose — see barnacle goose

engineering: change made on the manufacturing floor

• Finnish: fiksaus (fi)

computing: on printed circuit boards, a change

instrument to fix on the nose of a vicious horse

• Finnish: huulipuristin (fi)

nickname for spectacles

• Finnish: rillit (fi) pl, kakkulat (fi) pl

slang: good job, or snack easily obtained

• Finnish: herkkupala (fi)

Related terms

• barnacle goose

Verb

barnacle (third-person singular simple present barnacles, present participle barnacling, simple past and past participle barnacled)

1. To connect with or attach.
   • 2009, Liza Dalby, Hidden Buddhas: A Novel of Karma and Chaos, Stone Bridge Press (2009), ISBN 9781933330853, page 178:

     Tokuda went over everything his grandfather had taught him, including the commentary that had barnacled on to the core knowledge.

2. To press close against something.
   • 2002, Douglas Coupland, All Families Are Psychotic, Vintage Canada (2002), ISBN 0679311831, page 16:

     He turned a corner to where he supposed the cupboard might be, to find Howie and Alanna barnacled together in an embrace.

See also

• limpet

References

• barnacle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• 1811 Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue, available from Project Gutenberg [1]

Anagrams

• balancer