Translingual

Proper noun

Barker

1. A botanical plant name author abbreviation for botanist George Barker (1776-1845).

English

Proper noun

Barker

1. A surname​.

English

Noun

barker ‎(plural barkers)

1. Someone or something who barks.

   My neighbor's dog is a constant barker that keeps me awake at night.‎

2. A person employed to solicit customers by calling out to passersby, e.g. at a carnival.
   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

   Bob had amassed a considerable stockpile of double entendres from his days working as a barker for a strip joint.‎

3. A shelf-talker.
4. (video games) A video game mode where the action is demonstrated to entice someone to play the game.

   The barker mode of the arcade video game convinced the teenager to spend a quarter.‎

5. (slang, dated) A pistol.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

   1969 November 14, George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman, page 45:

   ...Parkin, the Oxford Street gunmaker, sent me a brace of barkers in silver mountings, with my initials engraved—good for trade, I imagine.

6. The spotted redshank.

Synonyms

• spruik
• tout

Translations

Etymology 2

From bark ‎(“surface of tree”) +‎ -er ‎(“forming agent nouns”).

Noun

barker ‎(plural barkers)

1. (historical) A person who removes needed or valuable tree bark, as on a cinnamon or cinchona plantation.

   The professor 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.

Translations

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

barker m

1. indefinite plural of bark