Толковый словарь английского языка Oxford English Reference - barn

1. n. 1 a large farm building for storing grain etc. 2 derog. a large plain or unattractive building. 3 US a large shed for storing road or railway vehicles. Phrases and idioms barn dance 1 an informal social gathering for country dancing, orig. in a barn. 2 a dance for a number of couples forming a line or circle, with couples moving along it in turn. barn-owl a kind of owl, Tyto alba, frequenting barns. Etymology: OE bern, beren f. bere barley + ern, {aelig}rn house 2. n. Physics a unit of area, 10(-28) square metres, used esp. in particle physics. Usage Symb.: b. Etymology: perh. f. phrase 'as big as a barn'