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bar·rack¹

(bărək)

tr.v. bar·racked, bar·rack·ing, bar·racks

To house (soldiers, for example) in quarters.

n. often barracks

1. A building or group of buildings used to house military personnel.

2. A large, unadorned building used for temporary occupancy.

[From French baraque, hut made of planks, barrack, from Middle French barraque, ultimately (via Old Provençal baraca and Old Spanish barraca) from Catalan barraca, hut, perhaps partly from a source akin to Spanish varga, thatched hut (of unknown origin) and partly from medieval Andalusian Arabic *barrāka, perhaps meaning "hut for resting beasts of burden" (from Arabic barraka, to make (a camel) kneel; akin to Akkadian birku and Hebrew berek, knee).]

bar·rack²

(bărək)

v. bar·racked, bar·rack·ing, bar·racks

v.intr.

1. Chiefly British To jeer or shout at a player, speaker, or team.

2. Australian To shout support for a team.

v.tr.
Chiefly British

To shout against; jeer at.

[Perhaps from Irish dialectal barrack, to brag; akin to BRAG.]

barrack·er n.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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