From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
barricade
n 1: a barrier set up by police to stop traffic on a street or
road in order to catch a fugitive or inspect traffic
etc. [syn: roadblock]
2: a barrier (usually thrown up hastily so as to impede the
advance of an enemy); "they enemy stormed the barricade"
v 1: render unsuitable for passage; "block the way"; "barricade
the streets"; "stop the busy road" [syn: block,
blockade, stop, block off, block up, bar]
2: prevent access to by barricading; "The street where the
President lives is always barricaded"
3: block off with barricades [syn: barricado]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barricade \Bar`ri*cade"\, n. [F. barricade, fr. Sp. barricada,
orig. a barring up with casks; fr. barrica cask, perh. fr.
LL. barra bar. See Bar, n., and cf. Barrel, n.]
[1913 Webster]
1. (Mil.) A fortification, made in haste, of trees, earth,
palisades, wagons, or anything that will obstruct the
progress or attack of an enemy. It is usually an
obstruction formed in streets to block an enemy's access.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any bar, obstruction, or means of defense.
[1913 Webster]
Such a barricade as would greatly annoy, or
absolutely stop, the currents of the atmosphere.
--Derham.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barricade \Bar`ri*cade"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Barricaded; p.
pr. & vb. n. Barricading.] [Cf. F. barricader. See
Barricade, n.]
To fortify or close with a barricade or with barricades; to
stop up, as a passage; to obstruct; as, the workmen
barricaded the streets of Paris.
[1913 Webster]
The further end whereof [a bridge] was barricaded with
barrels. --Hakluyt.
[1913 Webster]