Forms: 4 barewe, 5 barwe, barow, 5–6 barowe, 6 barrowe, 5– barrow. [ME. barewe points to an OE. *bearwe, barwe, OTeut. *barwâ- or barwôn-, a derivative of ber-an to BEAR: cf. the MHG. bere hand-barrow, rade-ber(e, now in Thuringian dial. rade-berre, wheel-barrow (Lexer I. 127, II. 333 ‘Cenovectorium, radeber’: cf. quot. 1483 in sense 2 below):—OTeut. barjâ-. Cf. also ON. barar pl.:—OTeut. *barâ-; and with long vowel OE. bǽr:—WGer. *bârâ-, OTeut. *bêrâ-, BIER.]
1. A utensil for the carrying of a load by two or more men; a stretcher, a bier; spec. a flat rectangular frame of transverse bars, having shafts or ‘trams’ before and behind, by which it is carried; sometimes with four legs to raise it from the ground. Now more usually called hand barrow to distinguish it from the wheel-barrow: see next.
c. 1300. Beket, 899. Theȝ ich scholde beo thider ibore in barewe other in bere.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mouse & Frog. For thou war better beir of stane the barrow.
1535. Coverdale, Acts v. 15. They brought out the sycke … and layed them vpon beddes and barowes.
1632. Sherwood, s.v., A hand barrow, civiere … à bras. A necke-barrow, civiere à col.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 322. Barrow, is of two sorts; either a Hand-barrow, or a Wheel-barrow.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., VII. v. III. 379. The wounded … defile in handbarrows.
2. a. A modification of the preceding, having one small wheel inserted between the front shafts, so that it can be pushed by a single man, the body or frame being usually converted into a kind of shallow open box; more fully called wheel-barrow. b. Also, in London and its vicinity, a small two-wheeled cart similarly pushed by the shafts, a hand-cart, or ‘costermonger’s barrow.’
a. 1420. Occleve, De Reg. Princ., 983. Lade a carte or fille a barwe.
1436. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 169. Halfe here shippes … wyth barowes are laden.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 105. Crowde wythe a barow, cinevecto.
1483. Cath. Angl., 22. A Barrow, cenovectorium.
1552. Huloet, Barrowe for to carye out dunge or filthe, cœnouectorium.
1768. Goldsm., Good-n. Man, II. i. (1780), 42. He had scarce talents to be groom-porter to an orange barrow.
1816. Southey, Poet’s Pilgr., I. 26. Carts, barrows, coaches, hurry from all sides.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. xi. II. 70. Setting down his own barrow, he snatches the Abbé’s; trundles it fast, like an infected thing.
1837. Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 17. He has to wheel it [bread] in a barrow round to the customers.
b. The contents of a barrow, a barrowful.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 4. To be carried in a Basket like a barrow of butchers Offall.
3. Salt-making. A conical basket into which the wet salt is put to drain.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 94. Which [the corned salt] they put into wicker baskets they call Barrows, made in a Conical form.
a. 1728. Kennett, MS. Lansd., 1033 (Halliw.). At Nantwich and Droitwich, the conical baskets wherein they put the salt to … drain … are called barrows. A barrow contained about six pecks.
4. Comb., as barrow-maker; † barrow-bunter, barrow-man, -woman, one employed in wheeling a barrow; barrowful, the quantity that fills a barrow; barrow-tram, the shaft of a barrow; barrow-way (Mining), see quot.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 145. I saw a dirty *barrow-bunter in the street.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 97. A *barowfull … of horsdowng.
1881. Miss Braddon, Asph., xxvii. To buy a barrowful of red and orange pots and pans.
1468. Medulla Gram., in Cath. Angl., 22. Vecticularius, a *barwe-maker.
c. 1650[?]. Ld. Herries, in Calderwood, Hist. Kirk (1843), II. 417, note. He scorned to be a *barrowman.
1822. Hogg, 3 Perils of Man, II. 326. Old masons are the best barrowmen.
a. 1550. Christis Kirke, 166. Than followit feymen rycht onaffeird, Bet on with *barrow trammis.
1657. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 19. His arms were stiff like *barrow-trams.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xlvi. Ye black barrow-tram o’ the kirk.
1851. Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh., 7. *Barrow-way, the way along which the barrow-men put the corves or tubs of coals … laid with tram-plates or bridge-rails.
1475. in Wright, Voc., 268. Psraannia, a *barowwoman.
1818. Han. More, Betty Brown, Tales (1830), II. 289. A barrow-woman … is as much her own mistress on Sundays as a duchess.
