bard

plural bards

1. A professional poet and singer, like among the ancient Celts, whose occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of the heroic achievements of princes and brave men.

   He is a Welsh bard, and a man full of animation, anecdote, and independence; […]

   1837, Richard Llwyd, The Poetical Works of Richard Llwyd, the Bard of Snowdon

   1 more example

   A WEAPON, THE WARRIOR CARRIES. A SAW, THE IDIOT CARRIES. AN INSTRUMENT, THE BARD CARRIES.

   2023, Rundisc, Chants of Sennaar, Focus Entertainment, via Nintendo Switch, level/area: Gardens

2. broadlyA poet.

   Shakespeare is known as the bard of Avon.

3. roleplaying gamesfantasyA class of character that typically focuses on charisma, magic and supporting other players; a fantasy fiction character inspired by this archetype.

   "Having a bard would be even less helpful than having a second wizard," John interjects.

   2024 January 9, Kristy Boyce, Dungeons and Drama, Delacorte Press, →ISBN, page 66

   1 more example

   I saw a bard work a bit of magic once. He brought up a volunteer from the audience, insulted him in rather colorful fashion, and then made the man forget the insults—and then he did the same trick all over again, twice more.”

   2015 August 18, Tim Pratt, Pathfinder Tales: Reign of Stars, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 116

plural bards

1. A piece of defensive (or, sometimes, ornamental) armor for a horse's neck, breast, and flanks; a barb. (Often in the plural.)
2. Defensive armor formerly worn by a man at arms.
3. cookingA thin slice of fat bacon used to cover any meat or game.
4. The exterior covering of the trunk and branches of a tree; the rind.
5. Specifically, Peruvian bark.

present singular third person bards · participle present barding · participle past barded · past barded

1. To cover a horse in defensive armor.

   1 more example

   The defensive armor with which the horses of the ancient knights or men at arms were covered, or, to use the language of the time, barded, consisted of the following pieces made either of metal or jacked leather, the Chamfron, Chamfrein or Shaffron, the Criniere or Main Facre, the Poitrenal, Poitral or Breast Plate, and the Croupiere or Buttock Piece.

   1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 29

2. cookingTo cover (meat or game) with a thin slice of fat bacon.

1. A surname originating as an occupation.
2. usuallywith definite articleWilliam Shakespeare.

   “We are going to undertake an exploration of the Bard's poetic structure and language,” Mom went on.

   2010, Erin Dionne, The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet, Penguin, →ISBN

   4 more examples

   We have previously traced Shakespeare from his Birth-place to the Grammar School, and we shall now glance at his career as a lover, and in so doing propose a pleasant walk of a short mile to Shottery, a rural hamlet in the parish of Stratford, where Anne Hathaway resided, to whom the Bard became affianced at a very early period in his life.

   1854, Edwin Lees, Stratford as connected with Shakespeare; and the bard's rural haunts, page 46

   It evidently needs no effort on the part of Mr. Booth to put himself en rapport with the ideal of the great Bard.

   1866, The Albion, quoted in, Arthur W. Bloom, Edwin Booth: A Biography and Performance History, McFarland →ISBN, page 207

   Nearly a dozen such enterprises now struggle each summer against the vagaries of rough weather and mosquito swarms to bring the Bard to the nation.

   2002, Diana Brydon, Irene Rima Makaryk, Shakespeare in Canada: A World Elsewhere, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 108

   I hope that the selection of stories is illuminating for those who have never thought about what happened after the death of the immortal Bard.

   2009, Jack Lynch, Becoming Shakespeare: The Unlikely Afterlife That Turned a Provincial Playwright into the Bard, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 8

1. abbreviationuncountableAbbreviation of beyond a reasonable doubt.