From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
barnacle
n 1: marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages;
free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and
live attached to submerged surfaces [syn: cerriped,
cerripede]
2: European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far
north [syn: barnacle goose, Branta leucopsis]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [See Bernicle.]
A bernicle goose.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac,
and Prov. F. (Berri) berniques, spectacles.]
1. pl. (Far.) An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and
thus restraining him.
Note: [Formerly used in the sing.]
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The barnacles . . . give pain almost equal to
that of the switch. --Youatt.
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2. pl. Spectacles; -- so called from their resemblance to the
barnacles used by farriers. [Cant, Eng.] --Dickens.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [Prob. from E. barnacle a kind of
goose, which was popularly supposed to grow from this
shellfish; but perh. from LL. bernacula for pernacula, dim.
of perna ham, sea mussel; cf. Gr. pe`rna ham. Cf. F.
bernacle, barnacle, E. barnacle a goose; and Ir. bairneach,
barneach, limpet.] (Zool.)
Any cirriped crustacean adhering to rocks, floating timber,
ships, etc., esp.
(a) the sessile species (genus Balanus and allies), and
(b) the stalked or goose barnacles (genus Lepas and
allies). See Cirripedia, and Goose barnacle.
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Barnacle eater (Zool.), the orange filefish.
Barnacle scale (Zool.), a bark louse ({Ceroplastes
cirripediformis}) of the orange and quince trees in
Florida. The female scale curiously resembles a sessile
barnacle in form.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bernicle \Ber"ni*cle\, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac;
prob. fr. LL. bernacula for hibernicula, bernicula, fr.
Hibernia; the birds coming from Hibernia or Ireland. Cf. 1st
Barnacle.]
A bernicle goose. [Written also barnacle.]
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Bernicle goose (Zool.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of
Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that
it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which
were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or
Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related
species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia.
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