DCHP-1 Online

barren(s)

• 1a n. in the Atlantic Provinces, an elevated tract of exposed land that nourishes only scrubby trees, shrubs, berries, etc. and resembles a moor.

  • 1770  (1792)  Early in the morning, I landed on South Head with Ned, and took a walk upon the barrens.
  • 1820  (1822)  The barrens . . . have few or no trees upon them, but are covered with a kind of shrub, they call myrtle. . . .
  • 1934  . . . I drove through barren . . . until finally the unbroken forest . . . was reached.
  • 1964  Caribou, moose and bear roam the more open sections of the country and partridge are plentiful on the barrens.

• 1b n. N.B. a tract of peat moss or muskeg.

  See also: muskeg  spruce barrens  

  • 1832  . . . [a] barren is an open plain, formed of peat moss, destitute of any covering whatever. . . .
  • 1948  The muskeg, with its mossy surface and occasional spruce . . . would be a barren in New Brunswick, or a savannah in western Nova Scotia. . . .

• 2 n. North a part of the Barren Ground.

  See also: Barren Ground(s)  Barren(s)  

  • 1913  . . . the "barrens" about Hudson Bay remained the only country that had successfully kept the independents at bay.
  • 1958  Sixty-six percent is water, mountain-top, swamp, muskeg, and barren.