barefoot meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

barefoot

adj

US /ˈbɛɹfʊt/ · UK /ˈbɛəfʊt/

Etymology From Middle English barefote, barfot, from Old English bærfōt (“barefoot”), from Proto-West Germanic *baʀafōt, from Proto-Germanic *bazafōts (“barefoot”) equivalent to bare + foot. Cognate with Scots barefit (“barefoot”), Old Frisian berfōt ("barefoot"; modern Saterland Frisian boarfouts (“barefoot”, adverb)), Dutch barrevoets (“barefoot”, adverb), German barfuß (“barefoot”), Danish barfodet (“barefoot”), Swedish barfota (“barefoot”, adverb), Icelandic berfættur (“barefoot”), Yiddish באָרוועס (borves, “barefoot”).

Wearing nothing on the feet.

After taking off their shoes, socks and sandals at the doorway, the kids were barefoot.
[L]ike Hedg-hogs vvhich / Lye tumbling in my bare-foote vvay, and mount / Their pricks at my foot-fall: ſometime am I / All vvound vvith Adders, vvho vvith clouen tongues / Doe hiſſe me into madneſſe: […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 9, column 1:

1 more example

It was firm enough to walk on, but Bradly took off his boots to preserve the leather from sea-water, and for the pleasure of barefoot walking on cool sand.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 60:

Informal Of a vehicle on an icy road: not using snow chains.

Slang Transmitting without the use of an amplifier.

Synonyms: barefooted, discalced, shoeless, unshod, unshoed
Derived terms: barefoot all over, barefoot and pregnant, Barefoot Bay, barefoot doctor, barefooter, barefooting, barefoot shoe, pregnant and barefoot
Related terms: barefooted, bare-footen

barefoot

adv

Wearing nothing on the feet.

She likes to go barefoot in the summertime.
Ignoring the familiar discomfort, he padded barefoot across the thick white carpet toward the heavy curtains that lined the richly appointed bedroom’s wide transparisteel window.2007, Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin, Star Trek: Enterprise: The Good That Men Do:

Transmitting without the use of an amplifier.

Derived terms: run barefoot through, the shoemaker's children go barefoot