Word.ws English Dictionary

barker

/ˈbɑː(ɹ)kɚ/US/ˈbɑɹkɚ/

barker noun: someone or something who barks.

Noun (1)

barker (plural barkers)

  1. Someone or something who barks.
    • My neighbor's dog is a constant barker that keeps me awake at night.
    • Edmund was barker on sight, like foolish stay-at-home dogs.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 42
    Synonyms:
    latrant
  2. A person employed to solicit customers by calling out to passersby, e.g. at a carnival.
    • Bob had amassed a considerable stockpile of double entendres from his days working as a barker for a strip joint.
    • […1893, James Otis, The Adventures of a Country Boy at a Country Fair
    Synonyms:
    tout, spruiker
  3. A shelf-talker.
  4. A video game mode where the action is demonstrated to entice someone to play the game.
    • The barker looks action-packed, but actually playing the game is rather dull.
  5. (dated, slang) A pistol.
    • Barney, opening a cupboard, brought forth several articles, which he hastily crammed into the pockets.
      “Barkers for me, Barney," said Toby Crackit.
      “Here they are,” replied Barney, producing a pair of pistols.1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC
    • Parkin, the Oxford Street gunmaker, sent me a brace of barkers in silver mountings, with my initials engraved—good for trade, I imagine.1969, George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman, page 45
    Synonyms:
    barking iron
  6. The spotted redshank.

Noun (2)

barker (plural barkers)

  1. (historical) A person who removes needed or valuable tree bark, as on a cinnamon or cinchona plantation.
    • The profession of barker has been made largely obsolete by the realization that in most cases saplings can be cultivated far more profitably.
  2. (obsolete) A tanner.
    • The profession of barker has been made largely obsolete by the introduction of more effective tanning agents, but it lives on as a surname.
  3. A machine used to remove unneeded bark from wood.
    • Run these logs through the barker so we can use them as fence posts.

Proper noun capitalized: Barker

Barker (plural Barkers)

  1. An English surname originating as an occupation.
  2. A town in Broome County, New York.
  3. A village in Niagara County, New York.
  4. An unincorporated community in Harris County, Texas.
  5. An unincorporated community in Wetzel County, West Virginia.
  6. A village in Colonia department, Uruguay.

barker meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

barker in Hindi

बार्कर, बरकर

barker in Tamil

பார்கர்

barker in Marathi

बार्कर, बार्केर

barker in Urdu

بارکر, برکر
More languagesFewer languages
barker in Bengali
বার্কার, বারকার
barker in Telugu
బార్కర్
barker in Malayalam
ബാർക്കർ, ബർക്കർ
barker in Kannada
ಬಾರ್ಕರ್
barker in Punjabi
ਬਾਰਕਰ, ਬਰਕਰ
barker in Gujarati
બાર્કર, બાર્કેર
barker in Odia
ବାର୍କର୍, ବାର୍କର
barker in Nepali
बार्कर, बरकर

Examples of barker in a sentence

  • 'I'll be your "barker" - the girl outside who gets the suckers in. […]'1954, Ian Fleming, “The Everglades”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 121:
  • Oh to live on Sugar Mountain / With the barkers and the colored balloons1969, Neil Young, “Sugar Mountain”:

Synonyms of barker

Forms of barker

Noun
pluralbarkers
Proper noun
pluralBarkers

Plural of barker: barkers

Origin of barker

From Middle English berkere; equivalent to bark (“dog noise”) + -er.

From Middle English barker; equivalent to bark (“surface of tree”) + -er.

Inherited from Middle English barker (“shepherd; tanner”).

Words formed from barker

Phrases with barker

Questions about barker

What does barker mean?
Barker means someone or something who barks.
What is barker in Hindi?
Barker in Hindi is बार्कर, बरकर. See Barker meaning in Hindi.
How do you use barker in a sentence?
'I'll be your "barker" - the girl outside who gets the suckers in. […]'
What part of speech is barker?
Barker can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce barker?
Barker is pronounced /ˈbɑː(ɹ)kɚ/.
What is the plural of barker?
The plural of barker is barkers.

Words near barker in the dictionary

  1. barkened
  2. barkening
  3. barkens
  4. barkentine
  5. barkentines
  6. barker
  7. barker channel
  8. barker channels
  9. barker's egg
  10. Barker's mill
  11. Barker's mills

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: barker (page history and authors); Barker (page history and authors); barker (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); barker (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-barker.ogg.

Cite this entry: “barker.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barker. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.