BAR'REN, adjective [from the same root as bare.] 1. Not producing young, or offspring; applied to animals. 2. Not producing plants; unfruitful; steril; not fertile; or producing little; unproductive; applied to the earth. 3. Not producing the usual fruit; applied to tree, etc. 4. Not copious; scanty; as a scheme barren of hints. 5. Not containing useful or entertaining ideas; as a barren treatise. 6. Unmeaning; uninventive; dull; as barren spectators. 7. Unproductive; not inventive; as a barren mind. BAR'REN, noun In the States west of the Allegheny, a word used to denote a tract of land, rising a few feet above the level of a plain, and producing trees and grass. The soil of these barrens is not barren as the name imports, but often very fertile. It is usually alluvial, to a depth sometimes of several feet. 2. Any unproductive tract of land; as the pine barrens of South Carolina.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI