Category:Barren

Bar"ren, a. Etym: [OE. barein, OF. brehaing, brehaigne, baraigne, F. bréhaigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. brékha, markha, sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting.]

1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; -- She was barren of children. Bp. Hall.

2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; "Barren mountain tracts." Macaulay.

3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty. Brilliant but barren reveries. Prescott. Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter. Swift.

4. Mentally dull; stupid. Shak. Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which as neither stamens nor pistils.

-- Barren Grounds (Geog.), a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions.

-- Barren Ground bear (Zoöl.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe.

-- Barren Ground caribou (Zoöl.), a small reindeer (Rangifer Groenlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.

Bar"ren, n.

1. A tract of barren land.

2. pl.

Defn: Elevated lands or plains on which grow small trees, but not timber; as, pine barrens; oak barrens. They are not necessarily sterile, and are often fertile. [Amer.] J. Pickering.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Barren - For a woman to be barren was accounted a severe punishment among the Jews (Genesis 16:2; 30:1-23; 1 Samuel 1:6, 1 Samuel 1:27; Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 49:21; Luke 1:25). Instances of barrenness are noticed (Genesis 11:30; Genesis 25:21; Genesis 29:31; Judges 13:2, Judges 13:3; Luke 1:7, Luke 1:36).