Barbados

//bɑɹˈbeɪ.doʊs// name, verb

name, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To press-gang (force into naval service). historical

    "The Barbadian planters […] resorted to shipping in hundreds of Scottish and Irish soldiers who’d been taken prisoner during Oliver Cromwell’s conquest. When that supply ran out, they took to kidnapping children, so many that a new term was coined: “barbadosed” meant the same thing in the late seventeenth century as “shanghaied” would in the twentieth."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    An island and country in the Caribbean.

Synonyms

All synonyms
congresslower housesenateupper house

Example

More examples

"Barbados is a member of the Commonwealth."

Etymology

From Portuguese barbados (“bearded ones”), from barba (“beard”), due to the dense hanging moss or vines in the island.

Related phrases

Barbados BlackbellyBarbados anoleBarbados bullfinchBarbados cherryBarbados leaf-toed geckoBarbados legBarbados lilyBarbados nutBarbados raccoonBarbados racerBarbados threadsnakepride of Barbados

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.