Emily Dickinson Lexicon

bar (-s), n. [ME < OFr < L.] (webplay: cease, coffee-house, fine, God, gold, joy, liquors, long, men, name, passes, signifies, solid, statute, right, river, run, thing, time, waters).

1. Railing; gate piece; horizontal fence post; [fig.] horizon; point between this life and the next.
2. Cube; ingot; block of precious metal.
3. Tribunal; court enclosure; place of justice; partition that surrounds court officials; [fig.] altar of judgment before God.
4. Barrier; obstacle; obstruction; restraint; metal prison grid; material that guards; long piece of thin metal or wood; [fig.] inhibition; responsibility; commitment; thing that holds back.
5. Beach; strand; bank of sand; silt that obstructs navigation through water.
6. Protection; guarding element; [fig.] branch; twig; foliage; leafage.
7. Disc; planetary ring; circular orbiting stripe.
8. Tavern; pub; club; place to buy alcoholic beverages; place where one goes to drown his sorrows; [fig.] inner privacy; mental state of an individual.