What is "barbed wire"

Barbed \Barbed\, a. Furnished with a barb or barbs; as, a barbed arrow; barbed wire.

Barbed wire, a wire, or a strand of twisted wires, armed with barbs or sharp points. It is used for fences.

also barb wire, "fencing wire with sharp edges or points," 1863, American English, from barb + wire (n.).

alt. twisted strands of steel wire, often coated with zinc, having barbs evenly spaced along them; used to construct agricultural and military fences. n. twisted strands of steel wire, often coated with zinc, having barbs evenly spaced along them; used to construct agricultural and military fences.

n. strong wire with barbs at regular intervals used to prevent passage

Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, less often bob wire or, in the southeastern United States, bobbed wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand(s). It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property. It is also a major feature of the fortifications in trench warfare (as a wire obstacle).

A person or animal trying to pass through or over barbed wire will suffer discomfort and possibly injury. Barbed wire fencing requires only fence posts, wire, and fixing devices such as staples. It is simple to construct and quick to erect, even by an unskilled person.

The first patent in the United States for barbed wire was issued in 1867 to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, who is regarded as the inventor. Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, received a patent for the modern invention in 1874 after he made his own modifications to previous versions.

Barbed wire was the first wire technology capable of restraining cattle. Wire fences were cheaper and easier to erect than their alternatives. (One such alternative was Osage orange, a thorny bush which was time-consuming to transplant and grow. The Osage orange later became a supplier of the wood used in making barb wire fence posts.) When wire fences became widely available in the United States in the late 19th century, they made it affordable to fence much larger areas than before. They made intensive animal husbandry practical on a much larger scale.

An example of the costs of fencing with lumber immediately prior to the invention of barbed wire can be found with the first farmers in the Fresno, California area, who spent nearly $4000 (over $75,000 in present-day dollars) to have wood for fencing delivered and erected to protect 2500 acres of wheat crop from free-ranging livestock in 1872.

Barbed Wire is a 1927 American silent romance film set in World War I. It stars Pola Negri as a French farmgirl and Clive Brook as the German prisoner of war she falls in love with. The film was based on the novel The Woman of Knockaloe by Hall Caine. Unlike the original novel, set in Isle of Man, the film takes place in Normandy, France. Some plot alterations were made in the adaptation, including most importantly the insertion of a happy ending.

Barbed Wire is a 1952 American Western film directed by George Archainbaud and starring Gene Autry, Anne James, and William Fawcett. Written by Gerald Geraghty, the film is about a cattle buyer who goes to Texas to investigate why the cattle trails to Kansas are blocked.