bard

Meanings

Noun

• A professional poet and singer, like among the ancient Celts, whose occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of the heroic achievements of princes and brave men.
• A poet.
• A piece of defensive (or, sometimes, ornamental) armor for a horse's neck, breast, and flanks; a barb. (Often in the plural.)
• Defensive armor formerly worn by a man at arms.
• A thin slice of fat bacon used to cover any meat or game.
• The exterior covering of the trunk and branches of a tree; the rind.
• Specifically, Peruvian bark.

Verb

• To cover a horse in defensive armor.
• To cover (meat or game) with a thin slice of fat bacon.

Origin

• (15th c.) from Scottish Gaelic bàrd, from Old Irish bard, from Proto-Celtic *bardos ("bard, poet"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- ("praise"), and reinforced by Latin bardus, borrowed from Celtic. Cognate with Latin gratus ("grateful, pleasant, delightful"), Sanskrit गृणाति ("calls, praises"), Old Church Slavonic жрьти ("to sacrifice").
• From French barde. English since the late 15th century.