bar

bar, barring

1. Bar, used as a slightly formal preposition meaning ‘except’, has been in use since the 18c. In current use it is often followed by a number (or none):

• My sister-in-law for whom I probably care more than I care for anyone in the world bar one other —Penelope Lively, 1983

• The best detection expert I know, bar none —Ruth Rendell, 1983.

It is also used in the idiom all over bar the shouting, when an outcome is all but assured; and in giving the odds in racing (e.g. 33-1 bar the rest).

2. Barring, which is attested much earlier (15c), is also still used in the general meanings, and collocates regularly with words expressing misfortune or reversal:

• Barring accidents, we should win another Grand Slam —Rugby World and Post, 1991

• The young working-class man in industrial employment could expect his income to reach its peak in early manhood and stay constant thereafter, barring disasters such as unemployment. —J. Weeks, 1992.

Notable among the few positive collocates of barring are miracles and similar manifestations:

• Barring a miracle or divine intervention, Sligo Rovers' season will be bereft of cups or league accolades —Sligo Weekender, 2004.