barricade [L16th] To man the barricades is to stage a protest of a kind particularly associated with France. The word is indeed French, formed from barrique ‘cask’; the ‘day of the barricades’ in Paris on 12 May 1588 during the Huguenot Wars was characterized by the use of barrels to build defences and obstruct access; hence the current sense. The French word came ultimately from Spanish barrica, and the form barricado was formerly used in English as well as barricade, both from the late 16th century.