barnacle 1
— barnacled , adj.
/bahr"neuh keuhl/ , n.
1. any marine crustacean of the subclass Cirripedia, usually having a calcareous shell, being either stalked (goose barnacle) and attaching itself to ship bottoms and floating timber, or stalkless (rock barnacle or acorn barnacle) and attaching itself to rocks, esp. in the intertidal zone.
2. a person or thing that clings tenaciously.
[ 1580-85; perh. a conflation of barnacle BARNACLE GOOSE with Cornish brennyk, Ir báirneach limpet, Welsh brenig limpets, reflecting the folk belief that such geese, whose breeding grounds were unknown, were engendered from rotten ships' planking ]
barnacle 2
/bahr"neuh keuhl/ , n.
1. Usually, barnacles . an instrument with two hinged branches for pinching the nose of an unruly horse.
2. barnacles , Brit. Dial. spectacles.
[ 1350-1400; ME bernacle bit, dim of bernac ]