Word.ws English Dictionary

barny

barny is the alternative form of barney.

Meaning of barney

Noun

barney (plural barneys)

  1. (UK, obsolete, slang) A lark, a romp, some fun.
  2. (UK, obsolete, slang) A hoax, a humbug, something that is not genuine, a rigged or unfair sporting contest.
    • "Just keep it i' thy mind," entreated the other, as a sort of parting remembrance, "ut I won thee i' fair powell—one toss an' no barney.[…]"1865, Benjamin Brierley, Irkdale, volume 2, page 19
  3. (obsolete, Harvard University slang) A poor recitation.
  4. (Australia, UK, slang) A noisy argument.
    • Gary and Mum went mental, and Gary phoned them up and had a right Barney with them.2007, Dave Brooks, For Nil Consideration, page 230
  5. (Australia, UK, slang) A minor physical fight.
    • I got stuck in the middle of a real barney between a couple of tough coppers and a handful of hairy protesters, and I didn't enjoy it one single bit.1982, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Corridors of Death, page 157
  6. (Boston, US, dialectal) A student at Harvard University.
    • There goes that fuckin' Barney right now, with his fuckin' "skiin' trip." We should'a kicked that dude's ass.1997, Damon, Matt; Affleck, Ben, Good Will Hunting, spoken by Morgan O'Mally (Casey Affleck)

See all 23 meanings of barney

Adjective

barny (comparative barnier, superlative barniest)

  1. Barn-like.
    • Everyone was breathing hard, and there was a barny smell in the room.2006, W. S. Merwin, Summer Doorways: A Memoir, page 210

Forms of barny

Noun
pluralbarnies
Adjective
comparativebarnier
superlativebarniest

Origin of barny

From barn + -y.

Questions about barny

What does barny mean?
Barny means barn-like.
What is barny the alternative form of?
Barny is the alternative form of barney.
What part of speech is barny?
Barny is an adjective.

Words near barny in the dictionary

  1. Barnwell
  2. Barnwell County
  3. Barnwells
  4. barnwood
  5. barnwoods
  6. barny
  7. barnyard
  8. barnyard golf
  9. barnyard grass
  10. barnyardgrass
  11. barnyards

Source and license

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