Barnacle

barnacle
    n 1: marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages;
         free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and
         live attached to submerged surfaces [syn: {barnacle},
         {cirriped}, {cirripede}]
    2: European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far
       north [syn: {barnacle goose}, {barnacle}, {Branta leucopsis}]
    

Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [See {Bernicle}.]
   A bernicle goose.
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Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac,
   and Prov. F. (Berri) berniques, spectacles.]
   1. pl. (Far.) An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and
      thus restraining him.

   Note: [Formerly used in the sing.]
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               The barnacles . . . give pain almost equal to
               that of the switch.                --Youatt.
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   2. pl. Spectacles; -- so called from their resemblance to the
      barnacles used by farriers. [Cant, Eng.] --Dickens.
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Barnacle \Bar"na*cle\, n. [Prob. from E. barnacle a kind of
   goose, which was popularly supposed to grow from this
   shellfish; but perh. from LL. bernacula for pernacula, dim.
   of perna ham, sea mussel; cf. Gr. pe`rna ham. Cf. F.
   bernacle, barnacle, E. barnacle a goose; and Ir. bairneach,
   barneach, limpet.] (Zool.)
   Any cirriped crustacean adhering to rocks, floating timber,
   ships, etc., esp.
   (a) the sessile species (genus {Balanus} and allies), and
   (b) the stalked or goose barnacles (genus {Lepas} and
       allies). See {Cirripedia}, and {Goose barnacle}.
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   {Barnacle eater} (Zool.), the orange filefish.

   {Barnacle scale} (Zool.), a bark louse ({Ceroplastes
      cirripediformis}) of the orange and quince trees in
      Florida. The female scale curiously resembles a sessile
      barnacle in form.
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Bernicle \Ber"ni*cle\, n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac;
   prob. fr. LL. bernacula for hibernicula, bernicula, fr.
   Hibernia; the birds coming from Hibernia or Ireland. Cf. 1st
   {Barnacle}.]
   A bernicle goose. [Written also {barnacle}.]
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   {Bernicle goose} (Zool.), a goose ({Branta leucopsis}), of
      Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that
      it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea ({Lepas}), which
      were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or
      Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related
      species. See {Anatifa} and {Cirripedia}.
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34 Moby Thesaurus words for "barnacle":
      adherent, adhesive, beat, bloodsucker, bramble, brier, bulldog,
      burr, cement, deadbeat, decal, decalcomania, freeloader, glue,
      gunk, hanger-on, leech, limpet, lounge lizard, molasses, mucilage,
      parasite, paste, plaster, prickle, remora, smell-feast, spiv,
      sponge, sponger, sticker, sucker, syrup, thorn