Noun: barnacle baa(r)-nu-kul
- Marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages; free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and live attached to submerged surfaces
"Barnacles are well-known examples of cirripeds";
- cirriped, cirripede
- European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far north
"Barnacle geese migrate in large flocks across Northern Europe";
- barnacle goose, Branta leucopsis
- [informal] An unwanted addition or requirement that attaches itself to and impedes something
"The program was weighed down by regulatory barnacles"
Derived forms: barnacles
Type of: crustacean, goose
Part of: Branta, Cirripedia, genus Branta, subclass Cirripedia
Encyclopedia: Barnacle, Warwickshire