'Barnacle' definitions:

Definition of 'barnacle'

(from WordNet)
noun
Marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages; free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and live attached to submerged surfaces [syn: barnacle, cirriped, cirripede]
noun
European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far north [syn: barnacle goose, barnacle, Branta leucopsis]

Definition of 'Barnacle'

From: GCIDE
  • Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac, and Prov. F. (Berri) berniques, spectacles.]
  • 1. pl. (Far.) An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and thus restraining him.
  • Note: [Formerly used in the sing.] [1913 Webster]
  • The barnacles . . . give pain almost equal to that of the switch. --Youatt. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. pl. Spectacles; -- so called from their resemblance to the barnacles used by farriers. [Cant, Eng.] --Dickens. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Barnacle'

From: GCIDE
  • Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [See Bernicle.] A bernicle goose. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Barnacle'

From: GCIDE
  • Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [Prob. from E. barnacle a kind of goose, which was popularly supposed to grow from this shellfish; but perh. from LL. bernacula for pernacula, dim. of perna ham, sea mussel; cf. Gr. pe`rna ham. Cf. F. bernacle, barnacle, E. barnacle a goose; and Ir. bairneach, barneach, limpet.] (Zool.) Any cirriped crustacean adhering to rocks, floating timber, ships, etc., esp. (a) the sessile species (genus Balanus and allies), and (b) the stalked or goose barnacles (genus Lepas and allies). See Cirripedia, and Goose barnacle. [1913 Webster]
  • Barnacle eater (Zool.), the orange filefish.
  • Barnacle scale (Zool.), a bark louse ({Ceroplastes cirripediformis}) of the orange and quince trees in Florida. The female scale curiously resembles a sessile barnacle in form. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'barnacle'

From: GCIDE
  • Bernicle \Ber"ni*cle\, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac; prob. fr. LL. bernacula for hibernicula, bernicula, fr. Hibernia; the birds coming from Hibernia or Ireland. Cf. 1st Barnacle.] A bernicle goose. [Written also barnacle.] [1913 Webster]
  • Bernicle goose (Zool.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'barnacle'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Barnacle'