Meaning
Watch out or prepare for sudden danger, disorder, or fierce competition. Dated, colourful warning Regional use: United States, especially Southern and Western associations.
Origin
An American catchphrase with 19th-century links to folk song. A tune called Katie, Bar the Door is documented in Louisiana in 1872, and figurative uses follow in the 1870s. Who Katy was is unknown. Older British ballads contain bar the door, but no secure chain identifies their characters with this Katy; the Kate Barlass story about the 1437 murder of James I of Scotland is possible only by chronology and lacks a textual link.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Katie, bar the door
- Katie, bar your door
- Katy, bar your door
Usage Examples
- If both favourites reach the final, Katy, bar the door - it will be a bruising match.
- The discount went live at noon and then it was Katie, bar the door.