Barbary Coast
- noun
- /ˈbɑːrbəri koʊst/
- NSFW
:
Costa de Barbary
- Tourists often visit the Barbary Coast to learn about its colorful history filled with saloons and vice.
- Barbary Coast Trail
Examples
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After dark, the Barbary Coast was alive with music, laughter, and danger.
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City leaders vowed to clean up the Barbary Coast and restore order to the waterfront.
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The novel is set in the days when the Barbary Coast was infamous for its wild nightlife.
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The Barbary Coast was notorious for its gambling and vice.
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Many tourists visit the Barbary Coast to learn about its history.
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The Barbary Coast was notorious for its gambling, brothels, and lawlessness in the late 19th century.
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In the 1800s, the Barbary Coast was infamous for being a hub of illegal activities in San Francisco.
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a toponym and historical/cultural label whose specific sense (a late‑19th‑century vice and gambling district in San Francisco) cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'Barbary' and 'coast' by a B1 learner. Although 'Barbary' may suggest piracy or lawlessness, the particular local, historical meaning is language- and culture-specific and therefore requires prior knowledge, making it non-compositional.
Etymology
Barbary Coast was used as a nickname for parts of a city, like old San Francisco, because noisy bars, gambling, and crime made people think of the pirate-filled shore; so the name came to mean a 'dangerous' or wild part of town.
