Posted on 07/30/2026 9:04:28 AM PDT by Red Badger
From politics to 'a very exciting event' As March Madness heats up we are more than likely going to encounter a peculiar word that is much beloved by sports writers and political pundits alike: barn burner.
barn burner The 'Barnburners' were one of two competing factions in the New York State Democratic Party in the middle of the 19th century. The name was “in allusion to the story of an old Dutchman who relieved himself of rats by burning his barns which they infested.”
In the modern parlance a barn burner is defined as "a very exciting game, event, etc." The earliest citation in our files for this use is from 1934:
A real “barn-burner” was the following hand, which provided plenty of excitement at the evening session. —Omaha World-Herald, 13 May, 1934
It should be noted that the barn burner here is a game of bridge, which perhaps gives fodder to those of us who think that the 1930s were a simpler time, and that our ancestors found certain things more exciting than we do today. Today barn burner is often used to describe a sporting event or some other contest, such as a political race, which occasions a good deal of excitement.
But before this 20th century use, barn burner had a very specific meaning in US politics. The Barnburners were one of two competing factions in the New York State Democratic Party in the middle of the 19th century. John Russell Bartlett, in his 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms, provided a lengthy quote from the New York Tribune, which explained that the name was “in allusion to the story of an old Dutchman who relieved himself of rats by burning his barns which they infested.” In this case, the Barnburners were so determined to get rid of systemic abuses that they were willing to destroy the system itself.
The Barnburners were the more radical of the two political groups; the more conservative party was referred to as the Hunkers (possibly on the grounds that they were interested in a hunk of the political spoils, or because they hankered after elective office).
The Governor’s favorites for Speaker, Printers, Bank Directors, all have been floored by the “Barn Burners,” as the Radicals are yclept in our State. —New York Tribune, 20 January 1842
It has long been thought that the New York Barnburners were the originators of that term (aside from the occasional person who literally burned down a barn), but recent findings have indicated that the term began its life describing radicals in a neighboring state, Pennsylvania, slightly earlier.
We do not know to what particular class the new epithet of “Barn burners” is intended to be applied, but it strikes us as highly characteristic of those who trample upon the rights of citizens and the laws of the land. —Public Ledger [Philadelphia, PA], 17 April 1840
It matters little where exactly the word began being used. What is germane is that we have a word which began its life as a term for a radical faction of politicians and then segued to being a descriptor of some exciting event. Go team.
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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bloviate
What’s the connection between Harding and bloviate?
Warren G. Harding is often linked to the word bloviate, but to him the word wasn’t insulting; it simply meant “to spend time idly.” Harding used the word often in that “hanging around” sense, but during his tenure as the 29th U.S. President (1921-23), he became associated with the “verbose” sense of bloviate, as his speeches tended to be on the long-winded side. Although he is sometimes credited with having coined the word, it’s more likely that Harding picked it up from local slang while hanging around with his boyhood buddies in Ohio in the late 1800s. The term likely comes from a combination of the word blow plus the suffix -ate.
Whenever I see the word it reminds me of Bill O’Reilly!............
It also had an old corn crib in it.............
WOW! Thank you. Sort of related to “blowhard”.
I have Merriam Webster, but nada. Fie on it! They are very old dictionaries, inherited from parents. Also have a 2 volume Cambrige set but it’s so heavy I dont’ check often.
I think that’s called a “barn raising”.
If somebody uses “Barn Burner”, banish them.
It’s 2026.
Turn the phookin page already
It’s commonly used by sportscasters...........
Great movie! Lee Remick in her prime. And Joanne Woodward. Jody (played by Tony Fransciosa) locks his own father in the barn and sets on fire. The whole town comes running after Ben Quick! They corner him, but by then Jody feels bad and sets his father free! (The barn is consumed.) But the father (Burl Ives) forgives Jody with those famous lines, “when I think of the hate that locked me in there, …….and then of the love that let me out………….”
I suspect he set it on fire...................but will never know for sure.
All I know is when I got off the school bus that afternoon the barn was on fire and there was a lot of cars parked along the road. I was maybe 7 or 8 at the time............
Hay put away wet can certainly cause a barn fire.
Sportscasters?
As I said, turn the page
You got it...
‘woke up on wrong side of bed’
People used to think that the left side of things was evil- wakin up on left side was meant to indicate a bad day ahead-
“Went to bed at two with a ten and woke up at ten with a two.” - Willie Nelson...............
It’s way older than he was...............
Difficult sight for a 7 or 8 year, hard memory to carry around.
**When I was a child, my grandfather’s barn burned down Lightning strike? Or hay brought in before totally dry? (Sorry for your Grandfather!)**
I was around 10 years old when a big barn, a little over a mile from our farm, burned down because of ‘tough’ hay. The farmhand said you could feel the heat rising up from the haystack when stacking those square bales. But the farmer that owned the place insisted it was dry enough to bale.
Several firetrucks showed up, but the roof was still intact. So the blaze was able to engulf the inside, despite the water being thrown at it at each end. The haystack smoldered for several days after the wood was all gone.
Now it seems them mostly roll the bales and wrap them in plastic and leave them in the field to collect and store somewhere else later.
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