Dictionary

baresark en · NOUN

Etymology

From bare + sark (“shirt”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A berserker, or Norse warrior who fought without armour.
   • Eric gives before him right to the edge of the cliff. Then the Baresark smites at him and Brighteyes catches the blow on his shield, and smites at him in turn so well and truly, that the head of the Baresark flies from his shoulders and spins along the ground, […] 1891, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “How Eric Went Up Mosfell against Skallagrim the Baresark”, in Eric Brighteyes, 2nd edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 67:
   • You said that I was a Berserker. And truth you shall speak; for baresark I go to-morrow to the war[.] 1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 12, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson, page 185:

Forms