barring

1. 1
   preposition

   Except for; on the condition that some particular thing does not happen or interfere.

   Barring any last-minute objections, the contract will be signed tomorrow.

   The flight is on schedule, barring a problem with the connecting crew.

   Similarexcepting, absent

   Note

   A participle that no longer needs anyone doing the barring: it has hardened into a preposition, much like except for. It usually opens the sentence and takes a noun phrase, very often with any, as in barring any sudden storms or barring any further red tape. The main clause then makes a prediction with will or should. When a full clause follows, use unless instead.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of bar.

   A line of officers stood barring the protesters from the square.

   Barring the windows with iron grilles became common after the burglaries.

   Note

   Every meaning of the verb bar travels in this form: blocking a way, prohibiting, bolting with a bar, painting in stripes. As a participle it follows be or trails a noun (officers barring the way). As a gerund it names the action and still takes an object (barring the windows took a week). The identical spelling also serves as the preposition meaning 'except for', where nobody is doing any blocking.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of shutting someone out or refusing them entry; blackballing.

   The committee's barring of the journalist drew sharp criticism.

   His barring from the profession followed the ethics scandal.

   Similarexclusion, blackballing, banning

   Oppositeadmission

4. 4
   nouncollectiveuncountable

   Bars or stripes taken together, or the pattern they form across a surface.

   Fine barring across the hawk's tail helped identify the species.

   The fabric's subtle barring caught the light at certain angles.

   Similarstriping, banding

   Note

   A collective use: the word gathers a set of stripes into one pattern instead of counting them. Speak of fine barring or heavy barring on a feather or a fabric, not of three barrings, when the stripes read as a single design. When the individual stripes matter, bars is the better word.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   Putting bars in place on something, or shutting or blocking it with bars.

   The prison's barring of the cell blocks was completed last spring.

   Heavy barring of the gates kept the livestock safely inside.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   Timber used to support the roof or sides of mine shafts.

   Inspectors checked the barring along the lower levels of the mine.

   Decayed barring was blamed for the partial collapse of the shaft.

   Similartimbering, shoring

   Note

   Here the word names a material, not an action: the timber itself, set against the roof and sides of a shaft. It behaves like a mass noun, so it pairs with words for condition and place, such as decayed barring or the barring on the lower levels. Keep it distinct from the act of fitting bars, which is the work, not the wood.

7. 7
   noununcountable

   Stitching that adds a small ornamental bar or tack to fabric or leather.

   The tailor's careful barring reinforced every buttonhole.

   Decorative barring ran along the cuffs of the jacket.

   Similartacking

   Note

   A stitching term close to tacking. A bar tack is a short, dense band of stitches worked across one spot. It can be ornament, but just as often it is reinforcement, holding fabric or leather where it takes strain, as at the end of a buttonhole. In the workroom the word usually means the finished stitching as well as the act of sewing it.

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