Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAR'REN-NESS, n.

1. The quality of not producing its kind; want of the power of conception; applied to animals.
2. Unfruitfulness; sterility; infertility. The quality of not producing at all, or in small quantities; as, the barrenness of soil.
3. Want of invention; want of the power of producing any thing new; applied to the mind.
4. Want of matter; scantiness; as, the barrenness of a cause. – Hooker.
5. Defect of emotion, sensibility or fervency; as, the barrenness of devotion. – Taylor.