barring oat
Preserved but no longer current.
In the brave days when schoolboys played pranks on their masters, they occasionally vented their humour — and sometimes their spleen — on one by barricading windows- and doors to prevent his entering the school. Miss Edgeworth has a story thus entitled.
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 “barring oat” mean?
In the brave days when schoolboys played pranks on their masters, they occasionally vented their humour — and sometimes their spleen — on one by barricading windows- and doors to prevent his entering the school. Miss Edgeworth has a story thus entitled.
Is “barring oat” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.