barley

noun

bar·​ley ˈbär-lē How to pronounce barley (audio)
: a cereal grass (genus Hordeum and especially H. vulgare) having the flowers in dense spikes with long awns and three spikelets at each joint of the rachis
also : its seed used especially in malt beverages, breakfast foods, and stock feeds

Examples of barley in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Fall is the off-season, when the trellises are bare, but recently, her farming team has been adding winter barley, a relatively newer crop in the world of beer, to their rotation, preparing barley seeds by the bucketful. Melina Walling, Fortune, 13 Nov. 2023 Malt is a grain, typically barley in baking, that’s been soaked in water and then dried with hot air (a process called malting) so that an enzyme develops which changes the grain's starch into sugar. Sam Stone, Bon Appétit, 3 Nov. 2023 Simmer until barley is cooked through and meat is tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour more. Melissa Clark, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Nov. 2023 Purple Karma barley, Siberian yarrow ‘Love Parade’, and a spicy puma pepper have caught our eye for some lavender-leaning crops to try when starting seeds for next spring. Sunset Magazine, 27 Sep. 2023 It was made with an ancient barley grain, and there was fruit in it that brought out a sweetness, and it's been aged for years. Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Sep. 2023 McGovern and organic chemist Rudolph H. Michel confirmed the earliest chemical proof of barley beer, dating to 3500 to 3100 B.C., in jars found in the Sumerian outpost of Godin Tepe, in what is now Iran. Leslie Shapiro, Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2023 Most people are able to manage celiac by avoiding gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye, but also in myriad other products, including some medications, deli meats and ice cream. Isabella Cueto, STAT, 18 Aug. 2023 People began gathering in groups of a few hundred, hunting and gathering wild wheat and barley. Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 13 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barley.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English barly, from Old English bærlic of barley; akin to Old English bere barley, Latin far spelt

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of barley was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near barley

Cite this Entry

“Barley.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barley. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.

Kids Definition

barley

noun
bar·​ley ˈbär-lē How to pronounce barley (audio)
: a cereal grass with flowers in dense spikes
also : its seed used especially in malt beverages, in foods (as soups and cereals), or as feed for livestock

Medical Definition

barley

noun
bar·​ley ˈbär-lē How to pronounce barley (audio)
: a cereal grass (genus Hordeum, especially H. vulgare) having the flowers in dense spikes with long awns
also : its seed used in malt beverages and in breakfast foods and stock feeds

More from Merriam-Webster on barley

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