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.
7. Amount; quantity; portion; space; -- often indefinite.
Away he goes, . . . a matter of seven miles. --L'
Estrange.
I have thoughts to tarry a small matter. --Congreve.
No small matter of British forces were commanded
over sea the year before. --Mi
--lton.
8. Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which
is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil, or abscess;
pus; purulent substance.
9. (Metaph.) That which is permanent, or is supposed to be
given, and in or upon which changes are effected by
psychological or physical processes and relations; --
opposed to {form}. --Mansel.
10. (Print.) Written manuscript, or anything to be set in
type; copy; also, type set up and ready to be used, or
which has been used, in printing.
{Dead matter} (Print.), type which has been used, or which is
not to be used, in printing, and is ready for
distribution.
{Live matter} (Print.), type set up, but not yet printed
from.
{Matter in bar}, {Matter of fact}. See under {Bar}, and
{Fact}.
{Matter of record}, anything recorded.
{Upon the matter}, or {Upon the whole matter}, considering
the whole; taking all things into view.
Waller, with Sir William Balfour, exceeded in horse,
but were, upon the whole matter, equal in foot.
--Clarendon.