bard / bärd/ • n. archaic or poetic/lit. a poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition. ∎  (the Bard or the Bard of Avon) Shakespeare.DERIVATIVES: bard·ic / -dik/ adj.bard² • n. a slice of bacon placed on meat or game before roasting.• v. [tr.] cover (meat or game) with slices of bacon.

bard a poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition. Recorded from Middle English, the word is of Celtic origin (bàrd in Scottish Gaelic, bard in Irish and Welsh). In Scotland in the 16th century it was a derogatory term for an itinerant musician, but was later romanticized by Sir Walter Scott.
Bard of Avon a name for Shakespeare, recorded from the late 19th century.
Bardolatry excessive admiration of Shakespeare. The term is first recorded in 1901 in George Bernard Shaw's Preface to Three Plays for Puritans.

bard Celtic minstrel-poet, etc. XIV. — Gael., Ir. bárd, W. bardd :- OCelt. *bardos.