Barring Out

Barring Out. Up to the end of the last century it was a more or less recognised custom at English and Scottish schools that the boys should fortify themselves in the schoolroom, and dictate terms to their master as to the length of their holidays and other matters of school discipline. Addison is said to have captained the besieged in one of them, and a story of Miss Edgeworth's takes a "barring out" for its theme.