1A sharp projection near the end of an arrow, fish hook, or similar object, which is angled away from the main point so as to make extraction difficult.

1. 1.1 A cluster of spikes on barbed wire.
   （铁丝网上的）钩刺串
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The devices fire two barbs attached to a wire that deliver a 50,000-volt shock on contact for up to five seconds.
   • The creeping mist coiled its tendrils round the spiky barbs like grasping fingers.
   • The barbed wire is, er, a piece of rusty barbed wire about 120 mm long - with one barb.
2. 1.2 A deliberately hurtful remark.
   〈喻〉讥讽的话
   his barb hurt more than she cared to admit

   他的讥刺对她的伤害远比她承认的要大。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Of course, partisan barbs were flying in short order.
   • Everyone in that room expected me to reply to his hurtful comments with barbs of my own but I sat there quietly, fuming inside yet refusing to stoop to his level.
   • In a 2001 article in New York magazine about feuding couples, one dueling duo, Dave and Brooke, traded barbs about her wireless addictions.
   • We know she's no good, but the two trade enough saucy barbs to pique our interest, and both actors flash enough flesh to push the boundaries of the PG - 13 rating.
   • Smith, who was clearly pumped-up for the match, denied his team had taken part in any ‘sledging’ before the Test despite widespread coverage of verbal barbs between the two sides.
   • Although Ferguson spoke with only a semi-serious tone, there was a barb within his remarks, as is often the case with jokes.
   • When it comes to health care, Klein seems to have a suit of armour that protects him from the critics' barbs.
   • Oft-named ‘The Clark Kent of the Guitar’, in recent times he's been the subject of a few barbs that he's lost the fire in his playing; that he's settled into a comfortable mid-Western Americana.
   • Officers in uniform are often put before the massed media to bear the brunt of their barbs - and, of course, to reinforce the anti-military prejudice.
   • Taunts that players receive when they're involved in road games may be brutal, but they don't inflict as much hurt as the barbs tossed at them by fans in their home park.
   • George Bush and John Kerry are happy to trade barbs about draft dodging and flip-flopping.
   • Finally, she decided that keeping them apart wasn't doing much good, and decided to let them trade verbal barbs (although if it went to fisticuffs, she hoped they both knocked each other out).
   • While I don't know about crowd numbers, I do expect a deluge of sarcastic barbs from the blogosphere.
   • This lyrical work also contained hidden barbs.
   • ‘I don't have the energy to trade barbs with you, Sandra,’ Sam told her tiredly.
   • The story is clever and very risqué for its time, dealing with serious themes of sex, fidelity, and jealousy with trademarked barbs and one-liners.
   • ‘You only did it because the Americans were not there,’ was the cutting barb tossed in his direction as he signed an autograph within days of returning from Moscow.
   • The artists have been trading barbs ever since Moby criticized Eminem's lyrics about women and gays and Eminem called Moby a girl.
   • The nature of the comedy is worthy of further comment since modern American audiences will not ‘get’ a lot of the cultural references made or recognize the targets of the satiric barbs.
   • After exchanging barbs via the media before they even met, Montoya and his new teammate, Ralf Schumacher, got along quite well once they started working together.

   Synonyms

   insult, sneer, jibe, cut, cutting remark, shaft, affront, slap in the face, slight, rebuff, brickbat, slur, scoff, jeer, taunt

   (barbs) abuse, disparagement, scoffing, scorn, spite, sarcasm, goading, ridiculing, derision, mockery

   informal dig, put-down

2A beard-like filament at the mouth of some fish, such as barbel and catfish.

1. 2.1 Each of the fine hair-like filaments growing from the shaft of a feather, forming the vane.
   羽支
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The bristle and eyelash consist of a rachis void of barbs, except at the innermost base.
   • If you look at a feather under a microscope, you see the main stem, with barbs coming out to the left and right, and from these you have left-and right-handed barbules.
   • The feather was identified as eagle from its size, color, and the coarse texture of the pennaceous barbs.
   • Filoplumes have a rachis, with barbs and barbules somewhere along them, and they arise from follicles.
   • Feathers, however bizarre or morphologically complex, consist essentially of a rachis, barbs, and barbules.

3A freshwater fish with barbels around the mouth, popular in aquaria.

Barbus and other genera, family Cyprinidae: numerous species

A small horse of a hardy breed originally from North Africa.