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Read moreOne of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
noun
archaic, literary1A poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition.
‘our national bard, Robert Burns’- ‘From 1808 to 1834 Moore continued to add to his Irish Melodies, which established him as the national bard of Ireland.’
- ‘Even two centuries ago, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing scoffed that the bard was perhaps more praised than perused.’
- ‘In the past, Karakalpak bards (performing poets) roamed from village to village, reciting stories and verses.’
- ‘These two kinds of periodicity may coincide, as in carefully end-stopped lines, or in the formulae chosen over centuries by the bards of oral traditions.’
- ‘On a dozen axes of values, then, there is a deep congruity, much of it reflecting the influence of the archaic epic bard on the nineteenth-century novelist.’
poet, versifier, verse-maker, rhymester, rhymer, sonneteer, lyricist, lyrist, elegistView synonyms- 1.1 Shakespeare.poet, versifier, verse-maker, rhymester, rhymer, sonneteer, lyricist, lyrist, elegistView synonyms
- 1.2 The winner of a prize for Welsh verse at an Eisteddfod.‘he was admitted as a Bard at the National Eisteddfod’
- ‘Today the term 'bard' in Wales means the victor at an eisteddfod, whether in poetry or music.’
- ‘The Crowning of the Bard is one of the most important events in an eisteddfod’
- ‘Eisteddfod literally means a sitting (eistedd = to sit), perhaps a reference to the hand-carved chair traditionally awarded to the best poet in the ceremony 'The Crowning of the Bard'.’
Origin
Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic bàrd, Irish bard, Welsh bardd, of Celtic origin. In Scotland in the 16th century it was a derogatory term for an itinerant musician, but was later romanticized by Sir Walter Scott.
Pronunciation
noun
A rasher of fat bacon placed on meat or game before roasting.
verb
[with object]Cover (meat or game) with rashers of fat bacon.
‘the venison was barded and marinated’- ‘To bard meat, you cover the meat with a thin layer of fat or fatty bacon and secure with butchers string.’
- ‘Pork or other fat can be used to bard meat.’
- ‘To bard meat, simply lay strips of fat over the surface, or use kitchen string to tie on the fat.’
- ‘One is to bard meat with fat (cover it with strips of fat, usually pork fatback), an outdated practice but one still taught in cooking schools.’
Origin
Early 18th century: from French barde, a transferred sense of barde ‘armour for the breast and flanks of a warhorse’, based on Arabic barḏa'a ‘saddlecloth, padded saddle’.
