Definition of "barre" [barre]

• A handrail fixed to a wall, as in a dance studio, used by ballet dancers as a support in certain exercises. (noun)
• A fingering technique used with fretted stringed instruments in which a finger is laid across the fretboard to stop all or several strings at once. (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.

• "The term barre chord simply refers to guitar chords that require the fretting multiple strings with a single finger."
• "“The bar there is known as a barre,” she said and spelled it out."
• "The time she spent dancing or working at the barre was the only time she felt truly alive."