barberly
barberly adjective: resembling or characteristic of a barber.
Adjective
barberly (comparative more barberly, superlative most barberly)
- Resembling or characteristic of a barber.
- Beneath her sweater one might have caught glimpses of a black-and- white dress, in alternate, barberly stripes which commanded the eye.1916, George Weston, “The Girl Who Didn't Care”, in Ladies' Home Journal, volume 33, page 89
- As he tended the 19 knights who lay about him, not only did Gorley have sympathy for their burns and blisters, but his barberly feelings were wounded by their appearance. Gorley could scarcely bear to look: Half a beard was singed away here... a third of a moustache, there... and, in a few cases...1969, Bernard Wiseman, “Sir Nervous Norman's Cold Feat”, in Boys' Life, volume 59, number 12, page 56
Adverb
barberly (comparative more barberly, superlative most barberly)
- In the manner of a barber.
- If sheepe or thy lamb, fall a wrigling with taile, / go by & by searche it, whiles help may preuaile. / That barberlye handled, I dare thee assure: / cast dust in his arse, thou hast finisht thy cure.1573, Thomas Tusser, Fiue Hundreth Points of Good Husbandry, Richard Tottel, page 62
- He was weighted with full cartridge-belt and pistol, and had the appearance of having been out of the saddle but a little while, although he was freshly shaved and barberly perfumed.1937, George Washington Ogden, Stockyards Cowboy, Dodd, Mead & Co., page 106
Examples of barberly in a sentence
- As he tended the 19 knights who lay about him, not only did Gorley have sympathy for their burns and blisters, but his barberly feelings were wounded by their appearance.1969, Bernard Wiseman, “Sir Nervous Norman's Cold Feat”, in Boys' Life, volume 59, number 12, page 56:
- He continued his barberly ministrations.2007, James Dodson, Beautiful Madness, Penguin Group, →ISBN, page 24:
- Give you a little free barberly advice." Rhodes wasn't sure he wanted any barberly advice, free or not, but since Garrett had helped him out a little, he walked over to where the retired barber stood.2016, Bill Crider, Survivors Will Be Shot Again, St. Martin's Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 146:
Forms of barberly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more barberly |
| superlative | most barberly |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more barberly |
| superlative | most barberly |
Origin of barberly
From barber + -ly.
Questions about barberly
- What does barberly mean?
- Barberly means resembling or characteristic of a barber.
- How do you use barberly in a sentence?
- As he tended the 19 knights who lay about him, not only did Gorley have sympathy for their burns and blisters, but his barberly feelings were wounded by their appearance.
- What part of speech is barberly?
- Barberly can be an adjective or an adverb.
Words near barberly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: barberly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “barberly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barberly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.