Word.ws English Dictionary

barnraising

barnraising noun: the collective construction of a barn by members of a community, common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America, and present-day Mennonite and Amish communities.

Noun

barnraising (plural barnraisings)

  1. The collective construction of a barn by members of a community, common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America, and present-day Mennonite and Amish communities.
    • It was founded on a deep knowledge of human nature; namely, upon the fact that people read most eagerly that which they already know, if it is about themselves or their neighbors, if it is a report of something they have been concerned in, a lecture they have heard, a fair, or festival, or wedding...1904, Charles Dudley Warner, “The American Newspaper”, in The Complete Essays of Charles Dudley Warner
    • “So Olaf is building a new barn?” Nils asked absently. “Biggest one in the county, and almost done. You'll likely be here for the barn-raising. He's going to have a supper and a dance as soon as everybody's done threshing. Says it keeps the voters in good humour. I tell him that's all nonsense; but...1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

Forms of barnraising

pluralbarnraisings
alternative formbarn raising
alternative formbarn-raising

Origin of barnraising

From barn + raising.

Questions about barnraising

What does barnraising mean?
Barnraising means the collective construction of a barn by members of a community, common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America, and present-day Mennonite and Amish communities.
What part of speech is barnraising?
Barnraising is a noun.
What is the plural of barnraising?
The plural of barnraising is barnraisings.

Words near barnraising in the dictionary

  1. barnmate
  2. barnmates
  3. Barno
  4. Barnoldswick
  5. Barnos
  6. barnraising
  7. barnraisings
  8. barnroom
  9. barns
  10. Barns Green
  11. barns-breaking

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: barnraising (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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