Noun

Singular bar

Plural bars

bar (plural bars)

1. A solid, more or less rigid object with a uniform cross-section smaller than its length.
2. (metallurgy) A solid metal object with uniform (round, square, hexagonal, octagonal or rectangular) cross-section; in the US its smallest dimension is .25 inch or greater (US), a piece of thinner material being called a strip.

   Ancient Sparta used iron bars instead of handy coins in more valuable alloi, to physically disencourage the use of money

3. A cuboid piece of any solid commodity.

   bar of chocolate

   bar of soap

4. A long, narrow drawn or printed rectangle, cuboid or cylinder, especially as used in a bar code or a bar chart.
5. A business licensed to sell intoxicating beverages for consumption on the premises, or the premises themselves; public house.
6. The counter of such a premises
7. A similar device or simply a closet containing alcoholic beverages in a private house or a hotel room.
8. An official order or pronouncement that prohibits some activity.
9. (computing, whimsical, derived from fubar) A metasyntactic variable representing an unspecified entity, often the second in a series, following foo.

   Suppose we have two objects, foo and bar.

10. (British, law) The railing surrounding the part of a courtroom in which the judges, lawyers, defendants and witnesses stay
11. (law, "the Bar") Short for the Bar exam, the legal licensing exam.

    He's studying hard to pass the Bar this time; he's failed it twice before.

12. (law, "the Bar") A collective term for lawyers; specifically barristers in some countries but including all lawyers in others.
13. (law, loosely, "the Bar") The legal profession of lawyers; specifically barristers in some countries but including all lawyers in others.
14. (music) A vertical line across a musical staff dividing written music into sections, typically of equal durational value.
15. (music) One of those musical sections.
16. (soccer) The crossbar
17. (backgammon) The central divider between the inner and outer table of a backgammon board, where stones are placed if they are hit.
18. An addition to a military medal, on account of a subsequent act
19. A linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water.
20. (nautical) A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance, especially a formation extending across the mouth of a river or harbor or off a beach, and which may obstruct navigation. (FM 55-501).
21. (heraldry) One of the ordinaries in heraldry; a fess.

    See wikipedia article on the topic: Ordinary (heraldry)

22. (sports) A horizontal pole that must be crossed in high jump and pole vault

Synonyms

• (business licensed to sell intoxicating beverages): barroom, ginshop, pub (British), public house, tavern
• (official order prohibiting some activity): ban, prohibition
• (section of a staff, in music): measure
• See also Wikisaurus:pub

Derived terms

• admitted to the bar
• anti-roll bar
• at the bar
• bar billiards
• bar chart
• bar code
• Bar Council
• barfly
• barful
• bar graph
• bar iron
• barkeep
• barkeeper
• barline
• bar lunch
• bar magnet
• barmaid
• barman
• bar meal
• bar of chocolate
• bar of soap

• bar parlour
• barperson
• bar room
• barring
• barrister
• bar sinister
• bar steward
• bartender
• bar wood
• bastard bar
• behind bars
• behind the bar
• bus bar
• buttery bar
• called to the bar
• called within the bar
• chocolate bar
• coffee bar
• colour bar
• crowbar
• crush bar
• debar
• disbar, disbarment

• double bar
• dragbar
• drawbar
• embar
• fire bar
• five bar
• gay bar
• handlebar
• horizontal bar
• inner bar
• juice bar
• kangaroo bar
• karaoke bar
• lounge bar
• luncheon bar
• milk bar
• minibar
• outer bar
• parallel bars
• public bar
• raise the bar
• re-bar
• rollbar

• roo bar
• saddle bar
• saloon bar
• sandbar
• sidebar
• singles bar
• snack bar
• space bar
• splinter bar
• T-bar
• toll bar
• tommy bar
• toolbar
• torsion bar
• towbar
• unbar
• wet bar
• window bar
• wine bar
• wire bar

A bar (also called a pub, tavern, saloon, beer garden or taproom) is an establishment that serves drinks, especially alcoholic beverages such as beer, liquor, and cocktails, for consumption on the premises.

Bars provide stools or chairs for their patrons along tables or raised counters. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go dancers, a floor show or strippers (see strip club). Bars that are part of hotels are sometimes called long bars or hotel lounges.

The term "bar" is derived from the specialized counter on which drinks are served and is a synecdoche applied to the whole of the drinking establishment. The "back bar" or "gantry" is a set of shelves of glasses and bottles behind that counter. In some bars, the gantry is elaborately decorated with woodwork, etched glass, mirrors, and lights. When food is served elsewhere in the establishment, it may also be ordered and eaten at the bar.