/bar"ee euhr/ , n.
1. anything built or serving to bar passage, as a railing, fence, or the like: People may pass through the barrier only when their train is announced.
2. any natural bar or obstacle: a mountain barrier.
3. anything that restrains or obstructs progress, access, etc.: a trade barrier.
4. a limit or boundary of any kind: the barriers of caste.
5. Physical Geog. an antarctic ice shelf or ice front.
6. See barrier beach .
7. barriers , Hist. the palisade or railing surrounding the ground where tourneys and jousts were carried on.
8. Archaic. a fortress or stockade.
[ 1275-1325; ME barriere ( barre BAR 1 + -iere -aria -ARY); r. ME barrere barrera ]
Syn. 1. palisade, wall. 1-3 . obstruction, hindrance, impediment. See bar 1 .