[prob. so named from its being sent over in bars; cf. logwood.] A red wood imported from the Gaboon and adjacent parts of Africa, used chiefly for dyeing purposes, and also for ramrods and violin bows. It is the produce of the Baphita nitida.
1788. Clarkson, Impolicy of Slave Trade, 7. The first African woods, that were known to be objects of commercial importance, were Camwood and Barwood.
1861. Du Chaillu’s Equat. Afr., x. 121. The bar-wood of commerce is the heart or main part of the trunk.
