A barber's pole is a type of sign used by barbers to signify the place or shop where they perform their craft. The trade sign is, by a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes (usually red, white, and blue in the United States; often red and white in other countries). The pole may be stationary or may revolve, often with the aid of an electric motor.
A "barber's pole" with a helical stripe is a familiar sight, and is used as a secondary metaphor to describe objects in many other contexts. For example, if the shaft or tower of a lighthouse has been painted with a helical stripe as a daymark, the lighthouse could be described as having been painted in "barber's pole" colors.
Read more about Barber's Pole: Origin in Barbering and Surgery, Barber Pole Use in Barbering, Barber Pole Use in Prostitution, Visual Illusion
Famous quotes containing the words barber and/or pole:
“No barber shaves so close but another finds his work.”
—English proverb, collected in George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs (1640)
“Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)