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barren

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barren

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Barren  \Bar"ren\,  a.  [OE.  barein  OF  brehaing  fem.  brehaigne 
  baraigne  F.  br['e]haigne;  of  uncertain  origin;  cf  Arm. 
  br['e]kha[~n],  markha[~n],  sterile;  LL  brana  a  sterile  mare, 
  principally  in  Aquitanian  and  Spanish  documents;  Bisc.  barau, 
  baru,  fasting.] 
  1.  Incapable  of  producing  offspring;  producing  no  young; 
  sterile;  --  said  of  women  and  female  animals. 
 
  She  was  barren  of  children.  --Bp.  Hall. 
 
  2.  Not  producing  vegetation,  or  useful  vegetation;  ?rile. 
  ``Barren  mountain  tracts.''  --Macaulay. 
 
  3.  Unproductive;  fruitless;  unprofitable;  empty. 
 
  Brilliant  but  barren  reveries.  --Prescott. 
 
  Some  schemes  will  appear  barren  of  hints  and  matter. 
  --Swift. 
 
  4.  Mentally  dull;  stupid.  --Shak. 
 
  {Barren  flower},  a  flower  which  has  only  stamens  without  a 
  pistil,  or  which  as  neither  stamens  nor  pistils. 
 
  {Barren  Grounds}  (Geog.),  a  vast  tract  in  British  America 
  northward  of  the  forest  regions. 
 
  {Barren  Ground  bear}  (Zo["o]l.),  a  peculiar  bear,  inhabiting 
  the  Barren  Grounds,  now  believed  to  be  a  variety  of  the 
  brown  bear  of  Europe. 
 
  {Barren  Ground  caribou}  (Zo["o]l.),  a  small  reindeer 
  ({Rangifer  Gr[oe]nlandicus})  peculiar  to  the  Barren 
  Grounds  and  Greenland. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Barren  \Bar"ren\,  n. 
  1.  A  tract  of  barren  land. 
 
  2.  pl  Elevated  lands  or  plains  on  which  grow  small  trees, 
  but  not  timber;  as  pine  barrens;  oak  barrens.  They  are 
  not  necessarily  sterile,  and  are  often  fertile.  [Amer.] 
  --J.  Pickering. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  barren 
  adj  1:  without  offspring;  "in  some  societies  a  barren  woman  is 
  rejected  by  her  tribesmen"  [syn:  {childless}] 
  2:  not  fertile  or  productive;  "a  barren  tree";  "soil  too 
  infertile  to  sustain  real  pasture"  [syn:  {infertile}] 
  3:  providing  no  shelter  or  sustenance;  "bare  rocky  hills"; 
  "barren  lands";  "the  bleak  treeless  regions  of  the  high 
  Andes";  "the  desolate  surface  of  the  moon";  "a  stark 
  landscape"  [syn:  {bare},  {bleak},  {desolate},  {stark}] 
  4:  not  bearing  offspring;  "a  barren  woman";  "learned  early  in 
  his  marriage  that  he  was  sterile"  [syn:  {sterile}] 
  5:  incapable  of  sustaining  life;  "the  dead  and  barren  Moon" 
  n  :  an  uninhabited  wilderness  that  is  worthless  for  cultivation; 
  "the  barrens  of  central  Africa";  "the  trackless  wastes  of 
  the  desert"  [syn:  {waste},  {wasteland}] 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Barren 
  For  a  woman  to  be  barren  was  accounted  a  severe  punishment  among 
  the  Jews  (Gen.  16:2;  30:1-23;  1  Sam.  1:6,  27;  Isa.  47:9;  49:21; 
  Luke  1:25).  Instances  of  barrenness  are  noticed  (Gen.  11:30; 
  25:21;  29:31;  Judg.  13:2,  3;  Luke  1:7,  36).




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