barrier, barriere, barrere

& a. Formerly pronounced sometimes with the accent on last syll. [In Fr. barrière; Prov. & Ital. barrier a; Sp. barrera.] [BAR.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally: (1) A physical obstruction of any kind erected to bar the progre of a person or thing, to constitute a boundary line, or for any similar purpose. Specially † (a) A fortification, a strong place; a wall raised for defence, a fortified boundary-line. "The queen is guarantee of the Dutch, having po e ion of the barrier , and the revenues thereof, before a peace." Swift . (b) Any obstruction raised to prevent a foe, a crowd, ., from pa ing a certain point; anything designed to fence around a privileged spot, or to mark the limits of a place, as, e.g. , a tiltyard, the gateway of a Continental town. "The lists' dread barriers to prepare, Against the imorrow's dawn. Scott: Lay of the Last Minstrel, v. 9. (2) Anything natural which similarly furnishes defence, impedes movement, or produces separation. "Safe in the love of heav'n, an ocean flows Around our realım, a barrier from the foes." Pope an invisible barrier , two yards in width, separated perfectly calm air from a strong blast."Darwin: Voyage round the World , ch. xxi. 2. Fig .: Anything immaterial which hinders advance or produces separation. (1) A mentally-formed obstacle, obstruction, or hindrance. "If you value yourself as a man of learning, you are If you building a most impa able barrier against improvement."- Watts. (2) A mentally-formed boundary, limit, or line of division or separation. "And fix, O muse, the barrier of thy song At Edipus."- Pope : Statius. "How instinct varies in the grovelling swine, Compar'd, half-reas ning elephant! with thine: Twixt that and reason what a nice barrier I For ever sep'rate, yet for ever near."- Pope . II. Fortification : A palisade, stockade, or other obstacle raised in a pa age or retrenchment as a defence against an enemy. ( James .) B. As adjective : Impeding, standing in the way; intercepting anything. the barrier mountains, by excluding the sun for much of his daily course, strengthen the gloomy impre ions." De Quincey: Works (ed. 1863), vol. ii., p. 83.