Definition of "barley" []

• A grass in the genus Hordeum, native to temperate regions, having flowers in terminal, often long-awned spikes. (noun)
• The grain of H. vulgare or its varieties, used for livestock feed, malt production, and cereal. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When there are added to this loss the expense of carting the grain to and from the malt-house, and the maltster's charge for operating upon it (I presume in this case that the feeder is not his own maltster), it will be found that two tons of malt will cost the farmer nearly as much as three tons of barley; and he will then have to solve the problem -- _Whether or not malt is 40 or 50 per cent. more valuable as a feeding-stuff than barley_."
• "“Malted” barley is barley which is starting to germinate — a process that converts the starch in the kernels into a soluble form called dextrin."
• "In order to retain barley in the drought areas for feed or make it available for feed in Eastern Canada, we have been paying the malting premium on all barley which is sold for feeding purposes."