<p><strong>Noun:</strong></p><ul><li>a point or pointed part projecting backward from a main point, as of a fishhook or arrowhead.</li><li>Synonyms: spicule, prickle, snag, barbule, prong, spike, spur.</li><li>an obviously or openly unpleasant or cutting remark.</li><li>Botany, Zoology: a hooked or sharp bristle.</li><li>Ornithology: one of the processes attached to the rachis of a feather.</li><li>one of a breed of domestic pigeons, similar to the carriers or homers, having a short, broad bill.</li><li>any of numerous, small, Old World cyprinid fishes of the genera Barbus and Puntius, often kept in aquariums. Usually barbs.</li><li>Veterinary Pathology: a small protuberance under the tongue in horses and cattle, especially when inflamed and swollen.</li><li>Also: a linen covering for the throat and breast, formerly worn by women mourners and now only by some nuns.</li><li>Obsolete: a beard.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used with object):</strong></p><ul><li>to furnish with a barb or barbs.</li></ul>