Barnstorm
WordNet
verb
(1) Tour the country making political speeches, giving lectures, or presenting plays
"The presidential candidates are busy barnstorming this month"
(2) Appear at county fairs and carnivals as a stunt flier and parachute jumper
WiktionaryText
Verb
- To travel around the countryside making political speeches etc
- To appear at fairs and carnivals in exhibitions of stunt flying, or sporting events
- An athletic team that travels from town to town performing in front of primarily small crowdshttp://www.sportingnews.com/archives/sports2000/numbers/173540.htmlhttp://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/bhof-original-celtics.htmlhttp://www.jimthorpe.org/jim_thorpe_athlete.php
Quotations
- 1899, Mark Twain, as cited in 1901, J. B. Pond, Eccentricities of Genius, page 227
- I'm not going to barnstorm the platform any more, but I am glad you have corralled Howells.
- 2005, Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, Mencken: The American Iconoclast, page 109
- It wasn't just the smell of perfumes that assailed his nose every time he entered a stuffy auditorium that he found unwelcome; it was the childish playwriting and barnstorm acting that was driving out the intelligent theatergoer and the production of less commercial plays.
- 2006, Ethan Wolff, Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Manhattan, page 242
- Smaller bands play the clubs ..., while the more established acts barnstorm through New York's surfeit of midsize halls.