barren(s)

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

1an.

in the Atlantic Provinces, an elevated tract of exposed land that nourishes only scrubby trees, shrubs, berries, etc. and resembles a moor.

Quotations

1770

Early in the morning, I landed on South Head with Ned, and took a walk upon the barrens.

1820

The barrens . . . have few or no trees upon them, but are covered with a kind of shrub, they call myrtle. . . .

1934

. . . I drove through barren . . . until finally the unbroken forest . . . was reached.

1964

Caribou, moose and bear roam the more open sections of the country and partridge are plentiful on the barrens.

1bn. — N.B.

a tract of peat moss or muskeg.

1832

. . . [a] barren is an open plain, formed of peat moss, destitute of any covering whatever. . . .

1948

The muskeg, with its mossy surface and occasional spruce . . . would be a barren in New Brunswick, or a savannah in western Nova Scotia. . . .

2n. — North

a part of the Barren Ground.

1913

. . . the "barrens" about Hudson Bay remained the only country that had successfully kept the independents at bay.

1958

Sixty-six percent is water, mountain-top, swamp, muskeg, and barren.