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bawn - What does it mean?

Definition of 'bawn'

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

(en-noun)
  • A cattle-fort; a building used to shelter cattle.
    • (Spenser)
  • * 1729', (editor), John Nichols (editor, revised edition), '''1812 , ''The British Classics, Volume 45'': ''The works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, D.D.: Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, Volume XI , page 163:
    • The Grand Question Debated
    Whether Hamilton's Bawn Should be Turned into a Barrack or a Malt-house ? 1729
    This Hamilton's bawn , while it sticks in my hand, / I lose by the house what I get by the land; / But how to dispose of it to the best bidder, / For a barrack or malthouse, we now must consider.
  • * 1892 , :
    • When he was coming into the bawn at dinner-time, what work did he find Jack at but pulling armfuls of the thatch off the roof, and peeping into the holes he was making?
  • A defensive wall built around a tower house. It was once used to protect livestock during an attack.
  • * 2004', Colm J. Donnelly, ''Passage or Barrier? Communication between '''Bawn and Tower House in Late Medieval Ireland – the Evidence from County Limerick'', in ''Château Gaillard 21: Études de castellologie médiévale: La Basse-cour: Actes du colloque international de Maynooth (Irlande), 23-30 août 2002 , page 57:
    • The cattle, therefore, would be brought into the bawn' at night, as is stated by the early 17th-century writer Fynes Moryson who wrote that the Irish cattle “eat only by day, and then are brought at evening within the ' bawns of castles, where they stand or lie all night in a dirty yard without so much as a lock of hay.”

    Etymology 2

    Participle

    (head)
  • * 1894 , , Chapter 2: Driscoll Spares His Slaves:
    • "Bofe de same age, sir —five months. Bawn de fust o' Feb'uary."
  • * 1899 , :
    • But ef it has ter be prove' ter folks w'at wa'n't bawn en raise' in dis naberhood, dey is a' easy way ter prove it.
  • * 1900 , , Act I:
    • Yah! You oughter bin bawn a Christian, you ought. You knaow too mach.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    Similar to 'bawn'

    been, ban, ben, bun, bean, bin, bion, bein, bain, boon, boun, baion, bawan, bayan, bewin, bunn, byion