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Barb

.

An arrow. The feathers under the beak of a hawk were called barb feathers (beard feathers). The point of an arrow has two iron “feathers,” which stick out so as to hinder the extraction of the arrow. (Latin, barba, a beard.)

N.B.—The barb is not the feather on the upper part of the shaft, but the hooked iron point or head.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.