Barnaby – English noun declension

English noun forms of Barnaby

Noun: Barnaby
SingularBarnaby

Sample Sentences

  • Bounce cry the port-holes, out they fly
  • And make the world dance Barnaby. [1640-1687, Charles Cotton, in his burlesque of Virgil]
  • It was a regular Barnaby dance; I'd never seen anyone move so quickly. Before the culprit bolted out the door into the night, [1985, Gregory Sass, Redcoat, page 28:]
  • "Owell gave me this. Said to get it to you in a Barnaby dance. 'Ere it is." His tongue scraped across his lower lip as he stared at Charity. [1996, Jo Ann Ferguson, Miss Charity's Case, page 182:]
  • We were now doing a strange sort of Barnaby dance: shuffling to and fro as I blocked his attempts to set off in pursuit. [2009, Julia Golding, The Diamond of Drury Lane, page 434:]

Etymology

1. * English surname of Aramaic origin, from בַּר נְבִיָּא (bar nəḇiyyā, literally “prophet’s son”).
2. * Also as an English surname, from Old English Beornwald, from beorn (“young warrior”) + wealdan (“rule”) + Old Norse býr (“farmstead”). See: Old Norse Nouns 'býr'.