one who makes a trade of shaving or trimming the beards of other men for money. Anciently a lute or viol, or some such musical instrument, was part of the furniture of a barber's shop, which was used then to be frequented by persons above the ordinary level of the people, who resorted to the barber either for the cure of wounds, or to undergo some surgical operation, or, as it was then called, to be trimmed, a word that signified either shaving or cutting and curling the hair; these, together with letting blood, were the ancient occupations of the barber-surgeon. As to the other important branch of surgery, the setting of fractured limbs, that was practised by another class of men called bone-setters, of whom there are hardly any now remaining. The musical instruments in his shop were for the entertainment of waiting customers; and answered the end of a newspaper, with which at this day those who wait for their turn at the barber's amuse themselves. For the origin of the barber's pole, see the article APPELLATION.