bar
♦♦ bar /b'ɑːr/ (bars barring barred)
1 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a place where you can buy and drink alcoholic drinks. (mainly AM)
...Devil's Herd, the city's most popular country-western bar.
2 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a room in a pub or hotel where alcoholic drinks are served. (BRIT)
I'll see you in the bar later...
On the ship there are video lounges, a bar and a small duty-free shop.
3 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a counter on which alcoholic drinks are served.
Michael was standing alone by the bar when Brian rejoined him...
He leaned forward across the bar.
see also coffee bar, public bar, snack bar, snack bar, wine bar
4 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a long, straight, stiff piece of metal.
...a brick building with bars across the ground floor windows.
...a crowd throwing stones and iron bars.
5 [PHRASE] PHR after v, v-link PHR
If you say that someone is behind bars, you mean that they are in prison.
Fisher was behind bars last night, charged with attempted murder...
Nearly 5,000 people a year are put behind bars over motoring penalties.
6 [N-COUNT] with supp
A bar of something is a piece of it which is roughly rectangular.
What is your favourite chocolate bar?
...a bar of soap.
7 [VERB] V n
If you bar a door, you place something in front of it or a piece of wood or metal across it in order to prevent it from being opened.
For added safety, bar the door to the kitchen.
● barred [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
The windows were closed and shuttered, the door was barred.
8 [VERB] V n
If you bar someone's way, you prevent them from going somewhere or entering a place, by blocking their path.
He stepped in front of her, barring her way.
= block
9 [VERB] usu passive, be V-ed from n, be V-ed to n
If someone is barred from a place or from doing something, they are officially forbidden to go there or to do it.
Amnesty workers have been barred from Sri Lanka since 1982...
Many jobs were barred to them.
= ban
10 [N-COUNT] usu N to n/-ing
If something is a bar to doing a particular thing, it prevents someone from doing it.
One of the fundamental bars to communication is the lack of a universally spoken, common language...
11 [PHRASE]
If you say that there are no holds barred when people are fighting or competing for something, you mean that they are no longer following any rules in their efforts to win.
It is a war with no holds barred and we must prepare to resist...
12 [PREP]
You can use bar when you mean `except'. For example, all the work bar the washing means all the work except the washing.
Bar a plateau in 1989, there has been a rise in inflation ever since the mid-1980's...
The aim of the service was to offer everything the independent investor wanted, bar advice.
see also barring
= save
[PHRASE]
You use bar none to add emphasis to a statement that someone or something is the best of their kind.
He is simply the best goalscorer we have ever had, bar none.
= without exception
13 [N-PROPER] the N
The Bar is used to refer to the profession of a barrister in England, or of any kind of lawyer in the United States.
Robert was planning to read for the Bar.
14 [N-COUNT]
In music, a bar is one of the several short parts of the same length into which a piece of music is divided. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use measure)bar chart (bar charts)
[N-COUNT]
A bar chart is a graph which uses parallel rectangular shapes to represent changes in the size, value, or rate of something or to compare the amount of something relating to a number of different countries or groups. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use bar graph)bar code (bar codes)
also barcode
[N-COUNT]
A bar code is an arrangement of numbers and parallel lines that is printed on products to be sold in shops. The bar code can be read by computers.bar graph (bar graphs)
[N-COUNT]
A bar graph is the same as a bar chart. (AM)bar mitz|vah /b'ɑːr m'ɪtsvə/ (bar mitzvahs)
[N-COUNT]
A bar mitzvah is a ceremony that takes place on the thirteenth birthday of a Jewish boy, after which he is regarded as an adult.bull bar (bull bars)
[N-COUNT] usu pl
On some motor vehicles, bull bars are metal bars fixed to the front that are designed to protect it if it crashes.café bar (café bars)
[N-COUNT]
A café bar is a café where you can also buy alcoholic drinks.can|dy bar (candy bars)
[N-COUNT]
A candy bar is a long, thin, sweet food, usually covered in chocolate. (AM)cof|fee bar (coffee bars)
[N-COUNT]
A coffee bar is a small café where non-alcoholic drinks and snacks are sold.pub|lic bar (public bars)
[N-COUNT]
In a British pub, a public bar is a room where the furniture is plain and the drinks are cheaper than in the pub's other bars.scroll bar (scroll bars)
[N-COUNT]
On a computer screen, a scroll bar is a long thin box along one edge of a window, which you click on with the mouse to move the text up, down, or across the window. (COMPUTING)sin|gles bar (singles bars)
[N-COUNT]
In North America, a singles bar is a bar where single people can go in order to drink and meet other single people.snack bar (snack bars)
[N-COUNT]
A snack bar is a place where you can buy drinks and simple meals such as sandwiches.wine bar (wine bars)
[N-COUNT]
A wine bar is a place where people can buy and drink wine, and sometimes eat food as well.
1 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a place where you can buy and drink alcoholic drinks. (mainly AM)
...Devil's Herd, the city's most popular country-western bar.
2 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a room in a pub or hotel where alcoholic drinks are served. (BRIT)
I'll see you in the bar later...
On the ship there are video lounges, a bar and a small duty-free shop.
3 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a counter on which alcoholic drinks are served.
Michael was standing alone by the bar when Brian rejoined him...
He leaned forward across the bar.
see also coffee bar, public bar, snack bar, snack bar, wine bar
4 [N-COUNT]
A bar is a long, straight, stiff piece of metal.
...a brick building with bars across the ground floor windows.
...a crowd throwing stones and iron bars.
5 [PHRASE] PHR after v, v-link PHR
If you say that someone is behind bars, you mean that they are in prison.
Fisher was behind bars last night, charged with attempted murder...
Nearly 5,000 people a year are put behind bars over motoring penalties.
6 [N-COUNT] with supp
A bar of something is a piece of it which is roughly rectangular.
What is your favourite chocolate bar?
...a bar of soap.
7 [VERB] V n
If you bar a door, you place something in front of it or a piece of wood or metal across it in order to prevent it from being opened.
For added safety, bar the door to the kitchen.
● barred [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
The windows were closed and shuttered, the door was barred.
8 [VERB] V n
If you bar someone's way, you prevent them from going somewhere or entering a place, by blocking their path.
He stepped in front of her, barring her way.
= block
9 [VERB] usu passive, be V-ed from n, be V-ed to n
If someone is barred from a place or from doing something, they are officially forbidden to go there or to do it.
Amnesty workers have been barred from Sri Lanka since 1982...
Many jobs were barred to them.
= ban
10 [N-COUNT] usu N to n/-ing
If something is a bar to doing a particular thing, it prevents someone from doing it.
One of the fundamental bars to communication is the lack of a universally spoken, common language...
11 [PHRASE]
If you say that there are no holds barred when people are fighting or competing for something, you mean that they are no longer following any rules in their efforts to win.
It is a war with no holds barred and we must prepare to resist...
12 [PREP]
You can use bar when you mean `except'. For example, all the work bar the washing means all the work except the washing.
Bar a plateau in 1989, there has been a rise in inflation ever since the mid-1980's...
The aim of the service was to offer everything the independent investor wanted, bar advice.
see also barring
= save
[PHRASE]
You use bar none to add emphasis to a statement that someone or something is the best of their kind.
He is simply the best goalscorer we have ever had, bar none.
= without exception
13 [N-PROPER] the N
The Bar is used to refer to the profession of a barrister in England, or of any kind of lawyer in the United States.
Robert was planning to read for the Bar.
14 [N-COUNT]
In music, a bar is one of the several short parts of the same length into which a piece of music is divided. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use measure)bar chart (bar charts)
[N-COUNT]
A bar chart is a graph which uses parallel rectangular shapes to represent changes in the size, value, or rate of something or to compare the amount of something relating to a number of different countries or groups. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use bar graph)bar code (bar codes)
also barcode
[N-COUNT]
A bar code is an arrangement of numbers and parallel lines that is printed on products to be sold in shops. The bar code can be read by computers.bar graph (bar graphs)
[N-COUNT]
A bar graph is the same as a bar chart. (AM)bar mitz|vah /b'ɑːr m'ɪtsvə/ (bar mitzvahs)
[N-COUNT]
A bar mitzvah is a ceremony that takes place on the thirteenth birthday of a Jewish boy, after which he is regarded as an adult.bull bar (bull bars)
[N-COUNT] usu pl
On some motor vehicles, bull bars are metal bars fixed to the front that are designed to protect it if it crashes.café bar (café bars)
[N-COUNT]
A café bar is a café where you can also buy alcoholic drinks.can|dy bar (candy bars)
[N-COUNT]
A candy bar is a long, thin, sweet food, usually covered in chocolate. (AM)cof|fee bar (coffee bars)
[N-COUNT]
A coffee bar is a small café where non-alcoholic drinks and snacks are sold.pub|lic bar (public bars)
[N-COUNT]
In a British pub, a public bar is a room where the furniture is plain and the drinks are cheaper than in the pub's other bars.scroll bar (scroll bars)
[N-COUNT]
On a computer screen, a scroll bar is a long thin box along one edge of a window, which you click on with the mouse to move the text up, down, or across the window. (COMPUTING)sin|gles bar (singles bars)
[N-COUNT]
In North America, a singles bar is a bar where single people can go in order to drink and meet other single people.snack bar (snack bars)
[N-COUNT]
A snack bar is a place where you can buy drinks and simple meals such as sandwiches.wine bar (wine bars)
[N-COUNT]
A wine bar is a place where people can buy and drink wine, and sometimes eat food as well.