barre

noun Ballet.

1. a handrail placed at hip height, used by a dancer to maintain balance during practice.

noun

1. Textiles. a pattern of stripes or bands of color extending across the warp in woven and knitted fabrics.
2. Textiles. a streak in the filling direction when one or more picks are of a color different from that of adjacent picks.
3. Music. a technique of playing a chord on a stringed instrument by laying a finger across the strings at a particular fret, raising their pitch.

noun

1. a rail at hip height used for ballet practice and leg exercises

noun

1. the act of laying the index finger over some or all of the strings of a guitar, lute, or similar instrument, so that the pitch of each stopped string is simultaneously raisedCompare capo 1
2. the playing of chords in this manner

verb

3. to execute (chords) in this manner

adverb

4. by using the barré

1876, in reference to chords played on a guitar, etc., from French, literally “bar” (see bar (n.1)).