barker

See also: Barker

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

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  Rhymes: -ɑː(r)kə(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English berkere; equivalent to bark (“dog noise”) +‎ -er.

Noun

barker (plural barkers)

1. Someone or something who barks.

   My neighbor's dog is a constant barker that keeps me awake at night.

2. A person employed to solicit customers by calling out to passersby, e.g. at a carnival.
   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

   Bob had amassed a considerable stockpile of double entendres from his days working as a barker for a strip joint.

3. A shelf-talker.
4. (video games) A video game mode where the action is demonstrated to entice someone to play the game.

   The barker mode of the arcade video game convinced the teenager to spend a quarter.

5. (slang, dated) A pistol.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

   • 1969, George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman, page 45:

     ...Parkin, the Oxford Street gunmaker, sent me a brace of barkers in silver mountings, with my initials engraved—good for trade, I imagine.

6. The spotted redshank.

Synonyms

• spruik
• tout

Translations

person employed to solicit customers by calling out to passersby

• French: aboyeur (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: κράχτης (el) m (kráchtis)

Etymology 2

From Middle English barker; equivalent to bark (“surface of tree”) +‎ -er.

Noun

barker (plural barkers)

1. (historical) A person who removes needed or valuable tree bark, as on a cinnamon or cinchona plantation.

   The professor of barker has been made largely obsolete by the realization that in most cases saplings can be cultivated far more profitably.

2. (obsolete) A tanner.

   The profession of barker has been made largely obsolete by the introduction of more effective tanning agents, but it lives on as a surname.

3. A machine used to remove unneeded bark from wood.

   Run these logs through the barker so we can use them as fence posts.

Translations

a person who strips needed or valuable bark

• Spanish: cascador, cascarillero
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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Danish

Noun

barker

1. indefinite plural of bark

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• berker, barkere, barkar

Etymology

From bark +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbarkər(ə)/

Noun

barker (plural barkers)

1. tanner, barker

Descendants

• English: barker

References

• “barker (n.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-12.

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

barker m

1. indefinite plural of bark