Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

‡BARRACE, BARRAS, BARREI, n.

1. Tournament lists, an enclosure.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
We still speak of “a cock in a barrace,” in allusion to a cock-pit.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 150:
The kist it boundit on the ground, Scatterin', throu' a' the barrei's bound, The banes frae side to side.Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Sc. Poems (1925) 30:
The farmers sons, as yap as sparrows, Are glad, I trow, to flee the barras.

‡2. A wire fire-guard. Not known to our correspondents.Edb. 1898 W.G. in E.D.D.:
Barras. Rarely used.