bar·na·cle
(bär′nə-kəl)n.
1. Any of various marine crustaceans of the subclass Cirripedia that in the adult stage form a hard shell which remains attached to submerged surfaces such as rocks and ships' hulls, and that have feathery appendages used for filter feeding.
2. The barnacle goose.
[Middle English, barnacle goose, from Old French bernacle, from Medieval Latin bernacula, diminutive of bernaca, of unknown origin.]
bar′na·cled adj.
Word History: The word barnacle is known from as far back as the early 13th century. At that time it did not refer to the crustacean, as it does today, but only to the species of waterfowl now more often known as the barnacle goose; more than 300 years went by before barnacle was used to refer to the crustacean. One might well wonder what the connection between these two creatures is. The answer lies in natural history. Until fairly recent times, it was widely believed that certain animals were engendered spontaneously from particular substances. Maggots, for instance, were believed to be generated from rotting meat. Because the barnacle goose breeds in the Arctic, no one at that time had ever witnessed the bird breeding; as a result, it was thought to be spontaneously generated from trees along the shore, or from rotting wood. Wood that has been in the ocean for any length of time is often dotted with barnacles, and it was natural for people to believe that the crustaceans were also engendered directly from the wood, like the geese. In fact, as different as the two creatures might appear to us, they share a similar trait: barnacles have long feathery cirri that are reminiscent of a bird's plumage. This led one writer in 1678 to comment on the "multitudes of little Shells; having within them little Birds perfectly shap'd, supposed to be Barnacles [that is, barnacle geese]." In popular conception the two creatures were thus closely linked. Over time the crustacean became the central referent of the word, and the bird was called the barnacle goose for clarity, making barnacle goose an early example of what we now call a retronym.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
barnacle
(ˈbɑːnəkəl)n
1. (Animals) any of various marine crustaceans of the subclass Cirripedia that, as adults, live attached to rocks, ship bottoms, etc. They have feathery food-catching cirri protruding from a hard shell. See acorn barnacle, goose barnacle
2. a person or thing that is difficult to get rid of
[C16: related to Late Latin bernicla, of obscure origin]
ˈbarnacled adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
bar•na•cle
(ˈbɑr nə kəl)n.
1. any marine crustacean of the subclass Cirripedia, having a shell made up of separate plates, being either stalked (goose barnacle) and attaching itself to ship bottoms and floating timber, or stalkless (rock barnacle).
2. one that clings tenaciously.
[1580–85; perhaps a conflation of barnacle barnacle goose with Cornish brennyk limpet (or Celtic cognates)]
bar′na•cled, adj.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
bar·na·cle
(bär′nə-kəl) Any of various small, hard-shelled crustaceans that live in the ocean and attach themselves to underwater objects, such as rocks and the bottoms of ships.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
| Noun | 1. |  barnacle - marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages; free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and live attached to submerged surfacescrustacean - any mainly aquatic arthropod usually having a segmented body and chitinous exoskeleton Cirripedia, subclass Cirripedia - barnacles acorn barnacle, Balanus balanoides, rock barnacle - barnacle that attaches to rocks especially in intertidal zones goose barnacle, gooseneck barnacle, Lepas fascicularis - stalked barnacle that attaches to ship bottoms or floating timbers |
| 2. |  barnacle - European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far northgoose - web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks Branta, genus Branta - wild geese |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
vilejš stvolnatý
rur
kacsakagyló
hrúîurkarl
polipas
jūraspīlīte
fúzonôžka
yapışıkça
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
barnacle
[ˈbɑːrnɪkəl] n (= shellfish) → anatife m, bernache fbarn conversion n (= building project) → aménagement m d'une grange
(= event) → bal m campagnard
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
barnacle
n
(fig, = person) → Klette f (inf)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
barnacle
(ˈbaːnəkl) noun a kind of small shellfish that sticks to rocks and the bottoms of ships.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.