barrow
Pluralbarrows
- 1A mound of earth and stones heaped over a grave or a group of graves.
The ancient chieftain was buried under a barrow that still rises above the fields.
Several barrows line the ridge, each raised over a cluster of graves.
Note
Of all the rises Old English beorg could name, the grave mound is the one general English has kept, so the word now belongs to burials and the deep past. A dolmen, a chamber of upright stones, can form part of one. In Norma Lorre Goodrich's retelling of Beowulf in The Medieval Myths, the dying hero asks for the oldest warriors to build him a barrow.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The burial-mound word derives from Old English beorg, which also meant a mountain or hill. en.wiktionary.org
- A dolmen forms a stone burial chamber and can be covered to form a barrow. en.wiktionary.org
- Goodrich's Beowulf retelling in The Medieval Myths contains the request for the oldest warriors to build a barrow. en.wiktionary.org
- Beowulf is mortally wounded before his burial mound is built. en.wikipedia.org
- 2A small cart for carrying a load, pushed or pulled by hand.
Traders set up their barrows along the market street long before dawn.
A porter piled our suitcases onto his barrow and wheeled it to the platform.
Similarcart, handcart, wheelbarrow
Note
In British use the barrow belongs to markets and stations, from the costers' (street sellers') barrows under naphtha flares in W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp to porters' barrows groaning under bags and baggage.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Costers are street sellers. en.wikipedia.org
- W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp describes costers' barrows illuminated by naphtha flares. en.wiktionary.org
- Railway porters' barrows are described carrying heavy loads of bags and baggage. en.wiktionary.org
- 3A male pig that has been castrated.
The vet castrated the piglet, so it will be raised as a barrow.
The study compared how barrows and gilts grew on the same feed.
Note
It has dropped out of everyday speech, surviving in some dialects and in animal science, where barrows are set against gilts and boars in growth and feeding trials.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Animal science trials compare barrows with gilts and intact males for growth and feeding performance. experts.illinois.edu
- 4A hill or mountain; a stretch of land rising above the ground around it.
Note
In this use the word is archaic and dialectal, surviving mainly in the names of English hills. The hill is a natural rise in the land, while the burial mound is a heap people raised over graves; since both stand up out of fields and ridges, the surrounding words usually decide which one a writer means.
Less common meanings
- 5A wicker container used at a saltworks to hold salt while it drains.
Note
At the saltworks the barrow is still a basket, the meaning Old English bearwe carried alongside the handbarrow that gave the hand-pushed cart. Woven of wicker or willow, it holds the wet salt while the brine drips away through the weave, so here the word names a draining vessel rather than anything that moves.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- A saltworks barrow is a wicker basket used to drain wet salt. en.wikipedia.org
- The basket and handcart senses share an Old English ancestor glossed as basket and handbarrow. en.wiktionary.org
- Salt-draining baskets were made from woven willow. thalsaline-halle.francke-halle.de
- The basket holds wet salt while excess brine drains away. en.wiktionary.org
- 6An infant's long flannel garment made without sleeves.
- 7A heap of waste, such as attle or other refuse, piled up at a mine.
Practice
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Origins
Old English beorg could mean a mountain, hill, mound, barrow or burial place, and it became Middle English berwe or bergh. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *bergaz and in the end to Proto-Indo-European *bʰérǵʰos. Berg is a doublet, and relatives include Dutch and German Berg ("mountain"), Swedish berg and Russian béreg ("bank, shore").
From Middle English barowe, barwe, from Old English bearwe ("basket, handbarrow"), from Proto-Germanic *barwǭ ("stretcher, bier"), from *beraną ("to bear"). Compare Low German Berwe and Middle High German radebere ("wheelbarrow").
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- The carrying-device sense of barrow derives from Middle English barowe and barwe. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English forms derive from Old English bearwe, glossed as basket or handbarrow. en.wiktionary.org
- The word ultimately derives from Proto-Germanic *barwǭ, meaning stretcher or bier. en.wiktionary.org
- The Proto-Germanic noun derives from *beraną, meaning to bear. en.wiktionary.org
- Low German Berwe is a related comparison. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle High German radebere means wheelbarrow and is a related comparison. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Germanic *barugaz is the source of Old English bearg or bearh, meaning "boar," which developed into Middle English barow or bareh. Cognates include Old Norse bǫrgr, Old High German barug, Old Saxon barug and Old Frisian barch.
Old English beorgan ("to protect") became Middle English berwen, and from that verb came a Middle English noun *berwe or *bergh, seen in the compounds hamberwe and berwham ("horse-collar").