The Collaborative International Dictionary
Barrier \Bar"ri*er\, n. [OE. barrere, barere, F. barri[`e]re, fr. barre bar. See Bar, n.]
(Fort.) A carpentry obstruction, stockade, or other obstacle made in a passage in order to stop an enemy.
A fortress or fortified town, on the frontier of a country, commanding an avenue of approach.
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pl. A fence or railing to mark the limits of a place, or to keep back a crowd.
No sooner were the barriers opened, than he paced into the lists.
--Sir W. Scott. Any obstruction; anything which hinders approach or attack. ``Constitutional barriers.''
--Hopkinson.-
Any limit or boundary; a line of separation.
'Twixt that [instinct] and reason, what a nice barrier!
--Pope.Barrier gate, a heavy gate to close the opening through a barrier.
Barrier reef, a form of coral reef which runs in the general direction of the shore, and incloses a lagoon channel more or less extensive.
To fight at barriers, to fight with a barrier between, as a martial exercise. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] ||
Usage examples of "barrier gate".
Near the Barrier Gate the taxi stopped and then Tsu-yan fled on foot, as fast as he could run, through the Barrier Gate into China.
Slowly and ponderously the barrier gate slid shut behind it, sealing the harbor from the sea.
Then the jeep crashed into the barrier gate and ripped out one of the poles.
They walked through a tall gap which must have supported a now-disappeared barrier gate, and their passing was signaled by a whispering sound as they shuffled through the loose sand and soil drifted there in a miniature dune.