verb. (old).—To shave; trim the beard: also TO BARBER: cf. BUTCH.
1587. TURBERVILLE, Tragicall Tales (1837), 53. Doe BARBE that boysterous beard.
1615. STAFFORD, Heav. Dogge, 64. I will stare my headsman in the face with as much confidence as if he came to BARBE mee.
1663. A. COWLEY, The Cutter of Coleman Street, ii. 5. Neat Gentlemen … tho’ never wash’d nor BARB’D.
1665. PEPYS, Diary, 27. Nov. Sat talking, and I BARBING against to-morrow.
1864. Daily Telegraph, 15 Feb. Where you can be shaved or ‘BARBED,’ as the locution is, shampooed, tittivated, curled.
2. (old cant).—To clip gold, SWEAT (q.v.): also applied to clipping wool, cloth, etc.
1610. JONSON, The Alchemist, i. 1.
| Ay, and perhaps, thy neck | |
| Within a noose, for laundring gold and BARBING it. |
1863. G. A. SALA, The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, II, vii. 226. Gambling bullies … throwing their Highman, or BARBING gold.
