Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Barbed Wire |
Barbed WireNoun1. Strong wire with barbs at regular intervals used to prevent passage. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definitions |
Building & Civil Engineering | A wire or strand of wires having small pieces of sharply pointed wire twisted around them at short intervals. . Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Barbed wire was invented by Joseph F. Glidden of Dekalb, Illinois in 1873. It was an improvement on less successful pointed wire products invented in 1867-68.
Barbed wire was the first wire technology capable of restraining cattle. Wire fences were cheaper to erect than their predecessors, and when they became widely available in the late 19th century in the United States they made it affordable to fence much bigger areas than before. They made intensive animal husbandry practical on a much larger scale.
In the American Southwest barbed-wire fencing led to disputes known as the range wars between free range ranchers and farmers in the late-19th century. These were similar to the disputes which resulted from enclosure laws in England in the early 18th century. These disputes were decisively settled in favor of the farmers, and heavy penalities were instituted for cutting the wire in a barbed wire fence.
Barbed wire fences remain the standard fencing technology for cattle in most regions. The wire is suspended under tension between heavy, braced, fence posts, and then aligned by being attached to steel star posts. The gaps between star posts vary depending on terrain - on short fences in hilly country they may be placed as closely as every 3 metres, whereas in flat terrain with long spans and relatively few stock they may be spaced out up to 30-50 metres.
Barbed wire for agricultural fencing is typically available in two varieties - "soft" wire and "high tensile". High-tensile wire is made with thinner but higher-strength and more elastic steel. Its greater elasticity make its fences longer-lasting. It copes with the expansions and contractions caused by heat and animal pressure by stretching and relaxing within wider elastic limits. It also supports longer spans, but because of its "springy" nature it is unpleasant and somewhat dangerous for inexperienced fencers. Soft wire is much easier to work, but is less durable and only suitable for short spans.
Most barbed wire fences, while sufficient to discourage cattle, are passable by humans who can simply climb through the fence by stretching the gaps between the wires, using non-barbed sections of the wire as handholds.
To prevent human crossing, many prisons and other high-security installations construct fences with razor wire, a variant which instead of occasional barbs features near-continuous cutting surfaces sufficient to severely injure anyone who climbs over it.
Barbed wire is also used in war. Much of the artillery bombardment on the Western Front in World War I was aimed at cutting the barbed wire that was a major feature of trench warfare.
External links:
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Barbed wire."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Prison | Bolt, deadbolt, bar, lock, police lock, combination lock, padlock, rail, wall, stone wall; paling, palisade; fence, picket fence, barbed wire fence, Cyclone fence, stockade fence, chain-link fence; barrier, barricade. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Barbed Wire |
| English words defined with "barbed wire": abatis, abattis ♦ bangalore torpedo, barb, Barbed ♦ cheval-de-frise, chevaux-de-frise, concertina ♦ row. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "barbed wire": BARBED-WIRE-MACHINE OPERATOR ♦ COMBAT RIFLE CREWMEMBER ♦ FISHING ACCESSORIES MAKER. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | They ought to be under the barbed wire soon. (Stalag 17; writing credit: Donald Bevan; Edmund Trzcinski) The man caught on the barbed wire said to waken the sleeper, utter the truth, then kiss him. The truth is, that for me, it shall always be 1945. (I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream; writing credit: Harlan Ellison;) But once we get passed that barbed wire, once we have them looking all over Germany for us, that mission is accomplished. (The Great Escape; writing credit: James Clavell) You're as cozy as barbed wire. (Tuck Everlasting; writing credit: Jeffrey Lieber) Donna, stairs can't stop a high school horn dog. Barbed wire can't stop a high school horn dog. A wall of fire can't stop a high school horn dog. (That '70s Show; writing credit: Stacia Raymond) | |
Lyrics | Blood rack barbed wire ("21st CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN"; performing artist: King Crimson) Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire ("Fortress Around Yur Heart"; performing artist: Sting) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Barbed Wire (1952) Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939) Barbed Wire (1927) Bouquet of Barbed Wire (1976) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Barbed wire electric fence controls livestock.Credit: Unknown. |  | A barbed wire fence separates a riparian buffer (right) from a grazed pasture (left) used by cattle.Credit: Jeff Vanuga. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Struggling and kicking under the cuts of the cane and the blows of the knotty stump Stephen was borne back against a barbed wire fence. |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | The right of way was fenced, two strands of barbed wire on willow poles. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Travel | Egypt | Because known minefields are not marked by signs but are usually enclosed by barbed wire, travelers should avoid areas enclosed by barbed wire. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
Expression using "barbed wire": barbed wire fence. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
barbed wire fence | 22 |
barbed wire art | 6 |
barbed wire font | 4 |
barbed wire jewelry | 3 |
antique barbed wire | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "barbed wire"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | tel me thumba, tel me gjemba. (various references) | |
Arabic | سلك شائك. (various references) | |
Czech | ostnatý drát. (various references) | |
Danish | pigtraad. (various references) | |
Dutch | prikkeldraad (barbed-wire). (various references) | |
Esperanto | pikdrato (barbed-wire). (various references) | |
Finnish | piikkilanka-aita (barbed wire fence). (various references) | |
French | fil de fer barbelé. (various references) | |
German | stacheldraht (barbwire). (various references) | |
Greek | αγκαθωτό σύρμα. (various references) | |
Hebrew | '"ר תיל (barbed wire fence). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szögesdrót. (various references) | |
Italian | filo spinato (barbwire). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 荊棘線 , 有刺鉄線 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ばらせ", ゆうしてっせ". (various references) | |
Manx | streng wheddyragh. (various references) | |
Norwegian | piggtråd. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | arbedbay ireway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | arame farpado (barbed-wire, barbwire). (various references) | |
Romanian | sârmã ghimpatã. (various references) | |
Russian | колючая проволока, колючий проволока. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | bodljikava žica. (various references) | |
Spanish | alambre de puas, alambre de espino (barbwire). (various references) | |
Swedish | taggtråd. (various references) | |
Turkish | dikenli tel. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-b-d-e-e-i-r-r-w" | |
-2 letters: barbered, barbwire. | |
-3 letters: bawdier, beadier, berried, bewared, braider, drabber, readier, redware, rewired, wearied, wearier, webbier, weirder. | |
-4 letters: abider, aeried, aerier, arider, babied, barbed, barber, barred, bawbee, bearer, beware, birder, birred, brawer, brewed, brewer, briard, bribed, bribee, briber, dabber, dearer, dearie, dewier, dibber, drawee, drawer, raider, reader, reared, rebred, redear, rediae, redraw, redrew, reread, reward, rewire, ribbed, ribber, waired, warder, warier, warred, wearer, webbed. | |
-5 letters: abide, aerie, aider, aired, airer, ardeb, barbe, barde, bared, barer, barre, beard, bedew, bider, braid, bread, brede, breed, briar, bribe, bride, brier, darer, deair, debar, dewar, direr, drear, drier, dweeb, eared, ebbed, eider, erred, irade, rabbi, rabid, rared, rawer, rebar, rebbe, rebid, redia, rewed, rider, wader, wared, weber, weird, wider, wired, wirer, wirra, wried, wrier. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 61 72 62 65 64 57 69 72 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01100001 01110010 01100010 01100101 01100100 00100000 01010111 01101001 01110010 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B a r b e d   W i r e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 0061 0072 0062 0065 0064 0057 0069 0072 0065 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)366784687170257758471 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Anagrams | 13. Orthography 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
