Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
4. A bank of sand, gravel, or other matter, esp. at the mouth
of a river or harbor, obstructing navigation.
5. Any railing that divides a room, or office, or hall of
assembly, in order to reserve a space for those having
special privileges; as, the bar of the House of Commons.
6. (Law)
(a) The railing that incloses the place which counsel
occupy in courts of justice. Hence, the phrase at the
bar of the court signifies in open court.
(b) The place in court where prisoners are stationed for
arraignment, trial, or sentence.
(c) The whole body of lawyers licensed in a court or
district; the legal profession.
(d) A special plea constituting a sufficient answer to
plaintiff's action.
7. Any tribunal; as, the bar of public opinion; the bar of
God.
8. A barrier or counter, over which liquors and food are
passed to customers; hence, the portion of the room behind
the counter where liquors for sale are kept.
9. (Her.) An ordinary, like a fess but narrower, occupying
only one fifth part of the field.
10. A broad shaft, or band, or stripe; as, a bar of light; a
bar of color.
11. (Mus.) A vertical line across the staff. Bars divide the
staff into spaces which represent measures, and are
themselves called measures.
Note: A double bar marks the end of a strain or main division
of a movement, or of a whole piece of music; in
psalmody, it marks the end of a line of poetry. The
term bar is very often loosely used for measure, i.e.,
for such length of music, or of silence, as is included
between one bar and the next; as, a passage of eight
bars; two bars' rest.
12. (Far.) pl.
(a) The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper
jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed.
(b) The part of the crust of a horse's hoof which is bent
inwards towards the frog at the heel on each side,
and extends into the center of the sole.
13. (Mining)
(a) A drilling or tamping rod.
(b) A vein or dike crossing a lode.
14. (Arch.)
(a) A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.
(b) A slender strip of wood which divides and supports
the glass of a window; a sash bar.
{Bar shoe} (Far.), a kind of horseshoe having a bar across
the usual opening at the heel, to protect a tender frog
from injury.
{Bar shot}, a double headed shot, consisting of a bar, with a
ball or half ball at each end; -- formerly used for
destroying the masts or rigging in naval combat.
{Bar sinister} (Her.), a term popularly but erroneously used
for baton, a mark of illegitimacy. See {Baton}.
{Bar tracery} (Arch.), ornamental stonework resembling bars
of iron twisted into the forms required.
{Blank bar} (Law). See {Blank}.
{Case at bar} (Law), a case presently before the court; a
case under argument.
{In bar of}, as a sufficient reason against; to prevent.
{Matter in bar}, or {Defence in bar}, a plea which is a final
defense in an action.
{Plea in bar}, a plea which goes to bar or defeat the
plaintiff's action absolutely and entirely.
{Trial at bar} (Eng. Law), a trial before all the judges of
one the superior courts of Westminster, or before a quorum
representing the full court.
Blank \Blank\, a. [OE. blank, blonc, blaunc, blaunche, fr. F.
blanc, fem. blanche, fr. OHG. blanch shining, bright, white,
G. blank; akin to E. blink, cf. also AS. blanc white. ?98.
See {Blink}, and cf. 1st {Blanch}.]
1. Of a white or pale color; without color.
To the blank moon Her office they prescribed.
--Milton.
2. Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty
space to be filled in with some special writing; -- said
of checks, official documents, etc.; as, blank paper; a
blank check; a blank ballot.
3. Utterly confounded or discomfited.
Adam . . . astonied stood, and blank. --Milton.
4. Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space;
a blank day.
5. Lacking characteristics which give variety; as, a blank
desert; a blank wall; destitute of interests, affections,
hopes, etc.; as, to live a blank existence; destitute of
sensations; as, blank unconsciousness.
6. Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated
characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.;
expressionless; vacant. ``Blank and horror-stricken
faces.'' --C. Kingsley.
The blank . . . glance of a half returned
consciousness. --G. Eliot.
7. Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror.
{Blank bar} (Law), a plea put in to oblige the plaintiff in
an action of trespass to assign the certain place where
the trespass was committed; -- called also {common bar}.
{Blank cartridge}, a cartridge containing no ball.
{Blank deed}. See {Deed}.
{Blank door}, or {Blank window} (Arch.), a depression in a
wall of the size of a door or window, either for
symmetrical effect, or for the more convenient insertion
of a door or window at a future time, should it be needed.
{Blank indorsement} (Law), an indorsement which omits the
name of the person in whose favor it is made; it is
usually made by simply writing the name of the indorser on
the back of the bill.
{Blank line} (Print.), a vacant space of the breadth of a
line, on a printed page; a line of quadrats.
{Blank tire} (Mech.), a tire without a flange.
{Blank tooling}. See {Blind tooling}, under {Blind}.
{Blank verse}. See under {Verse}.
{Blank wall}, a wall in which there is no opening; a dead
wall.