Bar"ren (?), a. [OE. barein, OF. brehaing, em. brehaigne, baraigne, F. br'ehaigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. br'ekha, markha, sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting.]
1.
Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; -- aid of women and female animals.
She was barren of children.
Bp. Hall.
2.
Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; rile.
"
Barren mountain tracts."
Macaulay.
3.
Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.
Brilliant but barren reveries.
Prescott.
Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter.
Swift.
4.
Mentally dull; stupid.
Shak.
Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which as neither stamens nor pistils. -- Barren Grounds Geog., a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions. -- Barren Ground bear Zool., a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe. -- Barren Ground caribou Zool., a small reindeer (Rangifer Grenlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.
© Webster 1913.
Bar"ren, n.
1.
A tract of barren land.
2. pl.
Elevated lands or plains on which grow small trees, but not timber; as, pine barrens; oak barrens. They are not necessarily sterile, and are often fertile.
[Amer.]
J. Pickering.
© Webster 1913.