barber-chair

verb

To split vertically upward from the partial cut and fall or kick outward.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbbarber-chair (third-person singular simple present barber-chairs, present participle barber-chairing, simple past and past participle barber-chaired)

present singular third person barber-chairs · participle present barber-chairing · participle past barber-chaired · past barber-chaired

  1. USWesternTo split vertically upward from the partial cut and fall or kick outward.

    Once when a tree barber-chaired, this was on a steep hillside, it was a dramatic display of a diving tree.

    1998, Jim Deaton, Crosscut Saw Reflections in the Pacific Northwest, page 15
    2 more examples

    It would have barber-chaired on him. The little ones had barber-chaired but they weren't split up very high.

    2000, Lloyd Keeland, The Lusty Life of Loon Lake Lloyd, page 251

    He made the first cut, the notch, and then as he made the back cut, it barber-chaired and kicked back on him.

    2014, Jesse W. Thompson, Samson & Delilah's Haunted B & B
  2. USWesterntransitiveTo split (a tree) in this manner.
noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of barber chair (when used attributively).

    Cutting through a limb that's bowed under the weight of the tree will create a mini barber-chair effect and the limb could shoot out at you when you release the pressure by cutting it.

    2011, Michael Levatino, Audrey Levatino, The Joy of Hobby Farming

Origin

From the resemblance of a tree split in this way to a barber chair.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

barber-chair. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barber-chair

MLA

“barber-chair.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barber-chair. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “barber-chair,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barber-chair.

Source: barber-chair on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.