Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAR'RA-TRY, n.

1. The practice of exciting and encouraging lawsuits and quarrels. – Coke. Blackstone.
2. In commerce, any species of cheating or fraud, in a shipmaster, by which the owners or insurers are injured; as, by running away with the ship, sinking or deserting her, by willful deviation, or by embezzling the cargo. – Park.