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Entry 4 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Barnacle

/bär'-nək-əl/ · Bar·na·cle · IPA /ˈbɑɹnəkl̩/
01 n. Any cirriped crustacean adhering to rocks, floating timber, ships, etc., esp. (a) the sessile species (genus Balanus and allies), and (b) t…
  1. 1.
    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.(Zool.) See: Cirripedia, Goose barnacle
Phrases & compounds
Barnacle eater — the orange filefish.
Barnacle scale — a bark louse (Ceroplastes cirripediformis) of the orange and quince trees in Florida. The female scale curiously resembles a sessile barnacle in form.
02 n. A bernicle goose.
  1. 1.
    A bernicle goose.
03 n. An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and thus restraining him.
  1. 1.
    An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and thus restraining him.(Far.)
    “The barnacles . . . give pain almost equal to that of the switch.” — Youatt.
  2. 2.
    Spectacles; -- so called from their resemblance to the barnacles used by farriers.[Cant, Eng.]