Barnie
noun, slang
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A barn owl or barn swallow. colloquial
"Bonnot found that the "area covered by the bed was three inches deep with feathers, wings, and bodies" of the hapless birds. The barnies had so little difficulty catching them that in many instances they simply bit off the heads"
- 2 A barn occupant. colloquial
"The 'Barnies' as they were more commonly known, were, in the main, deserving pensioners"
Example
More examples"Bonnot found that the "area covered by the bed was three inches deep with feathers, wings, and bodies" of the hapless birds. The barnies had so little difficulty catching them that in many instances they simply bit off the heads"
Etymology
From barn + -ie.
Related phrases
More for "barnie"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.