subs. (common).—1. Generic for humbug or deceit: spec. (sporting) an unfair competition of any kind—a race, prize fight, or game; the term is never applied to a fair contest. Hence a free fight, or rough and tumble, in which the ‘rules of the game’ are not too strictly observed.
1865. B. BRIERLEY, Irkdale, II. 19. I won thee i’ fair powell one toss an’ no BARNEY.
1882. Evening News, 2 Sept., 1, 6. Blackguardly BARNEYS called boxing competitions.
1884. Referee, 13 April, 7, 4. Who would believe that Mr. Gladstone shammed being ill, and that Sir Andrew Clark issued false bulletins, and that the whole thing was a BARNEY from beginning to end.
1885. Bell’s Life, 3 Jan., 3, 4. Few genuine matches have taken place this season on the Transatlantic waters, though exhibitions and BARNEY contests have been plentiful.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, The Squatter’s Dream, ii. We had a sair BARNEY, well nigh a fight you might be sure.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 115. The morning the Derby was run for, the BARNEY was well understood, Old Feet gave the jockey the cough drop, which I’d fated for the animal’s good.
1901. W. S. WALKER, In the Blood, 20. And now if I don’t knock Poss Stevens out, there’ll be a BARNEY an’ a scrap between ’is push an’ my push.
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, xxi. I darkly hint at a ‘BARNEY’ in the provinces. It is enough for them, as it is enough for me.
3. Harvard College.—A bad recitation (c. 1810); whence TO BARNEY = to recite badly.—B. H. HALL, A Collection of College Words and Customs.
