barn

/bɑ:n/

Thân thiện

A farmer stores hay in the barn for the winter.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A large farm building used for storing grain, hay, or straw, or for housing livestock such as cattle or horses. This is the most common meaning, referring to a specific type of agricultural structure.
   • (Physics) A unit of nuclear cross section. This is a specialized scientific unit equal to 10⁻²⁸ square meters, used to measure the probability of interaction between particles.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Farm Building):

  • The old red barn stood at the edge of the field.
  • We store the hay for the winter in the barn.
  • The cows go back to the barn every evening for milking.

• Noun (Physics Unit):

  • The cross section for that nuclear reaction is measured in barns.
  • A typical fission cross section can be on the order of hundreds of barns.

Advanced Usage

• "Barn door": Literally, the large door of a barn. Figuratively, used to describe something very large, obvious, or impossible to miss.
  • You missed the target? You couldn't hit a barn door!
• "Barn raising": A traditional community event where neighbors gather to help construct a new barn for a farmer.
  • The whole town came together for the barn raising.

Variants and Related Words

• Barnyard (n): The area immediately surrounding a barn.
  • The children played in the barnyard.
• Barnstorm (v): To tour rural areas giving speeches or performances, originally by pilots performing stunts.
  • The candidate went to barnstorm across the state.

Synonyms

• For the building: Stable, shed, outbuilding, granary, byre (specifically for cattle).
• For the physics unit: (This is a specific unit of measurement with no direct synonym.)

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

(Note: "Barn" is primarily a noun and does not commonly form phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

• "Lock the barn door after the horse is stolen": To take precautions only after a loss or disaster has occurred; to act too late.
  • Buying a safe after the robbery is like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen.
• "Were you born in a barn?": A rhetorical question asked to someone who leaves a door open, implying they are rude or uncultured.
  • Close the door! Were you born in a barn?

Học thuật

Noun

1. (physics) a unit of nuclear cross section; the effective circular area that one particle presents to another as a target for an encounter
2. an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals

Từ đồng nghĩa

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