Word.ws English Dictionary

barn burner

barn burner is the alternative form of barnburner.

Meaning of barnburner

Noun

barnburner (plural barnburners)

  1. One who burns down a barn.
  2. (New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, slang, Maryland) Synonym of phosphorus match, a friction match that can be struck anywhere.
  3. (idiomatic) A sensationally exciting or successful event or person.
    • Those deathless twin barnburners return to the Metropolitan Opera tonight.2007 January 26, The New York Times, “Classical Music/Opera Listings”, in New York Times

See all 4 meanings of barnburner

Forms of barn burner

pluralbarn burners

Questions about barn burner

What is barn burner the alternative form of?
Barn burner is the alternative form of barnburner.

Words near barn burner in the dictionary

  1. Barmston
  2. Barmudah
  3. barmy
  4. Barmy Army
  5. barn
  6. barn burner
  7. barn burners
  8. barn cat
  9. barn cats
  10. barn coat
  11. barn dance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: barn burner (page history and authors); barnburner (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: “barn burner.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barn_burner. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.