barber's pole
Preserved but no longer current.
This pole, painted spirally with two stripes of red and white, and dis- played outside barber's shops as a sign, is a relic of the days when the callings of barber and surgeon were combined," it is symbolical of the winding of a bandage round the arm previous to blood-letting. The gilt knob at its end represents the brass basin which is sometimes actually suspended on the pole.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “barber's pole” mean?
This pole, painted spirally with two stripes of red and white, and dis- played outside barber's shops as a sign, is a relic of the days when the callings of barber and surgeon were combined," it is symbolical of the winding of a bandage round the arm previous to blood-letting. The gilt knob at its end represents the brass basin which is sometimes actually suspended on the pole.
Is “barber's pole” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.