barley sugarn.
/ˈbɑːlɪ ˌʃʊɡə/, U.S. /ˈbɑrli ˌʃʊɡər/ An amber-coloured hard sweet made of boiled sugar, often flavoured with an extract of barley, and traditionally shaped into twisted sticks or oblong drops. Also: a piece of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > confections or sweetmeats > sweets > [noun] > a sweet > barley-sugar
pennet1337
sugar-penide1599
barley sugar1702
alphenic1775
barley-candy1883
1702 J. K. tr. F. Massialot New Instr. Confectioners xxxiv. 122 in Court & Country Cook Having caus'd Barley to be well boil'd in Water, strain it thro' the Hair-sieve, and let this Decoction be put into clarified Sugar..remove the Pan from the Fire..and pour your Barley-sugar upon a Marble-stone rubb'd with Oil of Olives.
1827 Domest. Econ. & Cookery for Rich & Poor 583 All sorts of essences may be made into drops or barley-sugars in the same way.
1876 M. C. Hay Nora's Love Test II. vi. 86 A little lad stood wrapped in infinite delight, both his dirty hands full of barley-sugar, and his cheeks and lips shining with its traces.
1917 G. M. Foakes tr. M. Gorky In the World ii. 42 The next day, wishing to smooth over my difference with Ludmilla, I bought some barley sugar, her favorite sweet.
2001 S. Armitage Little Green Man (2002) xxvii. 178 Pomfret cakes, Cola bottles, humbugs and barley sugars (but only in mum's handbag on long journeys, stop you getting carsick).
Compounds
C1. General use as modifier, esp. in names for forms of the sweet, as barley-sugar drop, barley-sugar stick.
ΚΠ
1782 W. O'Brien Lusorium 45 There the brethren comfort the sisters in the spirit, and the sisters suck the barley-sugar-sticks of brotherly love and of the new man.
1789 F. Nutt Compl. Confectioner 61 Barley sugar drops.
1819 J. Keats Let. 12 Apr. (1958) II. 52 As fine as barley sugar drops are to a schoolboy's tongue.
1852 L. Valentine Harry Brightside vii. 125 A cake..beautifully ornamented with barley-sugar figures, and a few in sugar only.
1920 China's Millions May 57/2 One day we climbed eight times to get to seven villages, and a few barley sugar drops were all we had to eat.
2003 C. Birch Turn again Home xv. 207 Jean..was screaming because she wanted a barley-sugar stick.
C2. Used to designate features of architecture, furniture, etc., which have a twisted spiral shape resembling a stick of barley sugar; also in compounds with the sense ‘that has (a) —— resembling a stick of barley sugar’, as barley-sugar-legged adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [adjective] > twisted spirally
woundenOE
thwarlc1400
wreathenc1400
writhenc1475
thrown1534
crinkled1558
contort1570
torqued1577
writhed1578
rivelled1594
wrested1609
twound1610
twirled1611
contorted1622
tortile1658
torcular1661
roped1681
wended?1690
twisted1725
entwisteda1800
torquated1851
barley sugar1868
spirated1871
wrangled1876
rangled1924
1868 W. S. Gilbert in T. Hood 5 Alls 30/1 She was small..with a bright round face..and a quantity of barley-sugar hair, which massed itself in great folds at the back of a particularly symmetrical little head.
1906 Mag. Fine Arts Apr. 443/2 (caption) Spiral turned or ‘barley-sugar’ legged gate-table.
1908 Connoisseur July 154/1 There are two points to note about this chair besides its type. One is that the barley-sugar ‘twist’ appears in its turning.
1911 J. P. Blake & A. E. Reveirs-Hopkins Period of Queen Anne (Little Bks. Old Furnit.) ii. 31 No. 1..still possesses the old wide staircase with twisted ‘barley-sugar’ balusters and carved rose newel pendants.
1939 G. Greene Lawless Roads x. 233 Barley-sugar pillars up the façade.
1984 R. Feild Irons in Fire vii. 182 Cake baskets with ‘barley-sugar’ handles and pierced sides.
2002 Cheshire Life Aug. 167/2 A substantial amount [of Chester] was designed in the 19th century by architect John Douglas, whose ‘barley-sugar chimneys’ comprise bus stop number 20.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1702