Meaning of Barkis is willin' | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Somebody has a sweetheart they wish to marry.
   colloquial, dated, humorous
2. Someone is amenable to a suggestion.
   broadly, colloquial, dated, humorous

Examples

“If Barkis is willing, then a certain gentleman as we know in the meat trade may suit himself elsewhere. Come; answer that. Is Barkis willing?”

“And another asked me if I had come to get a Canadian sweetheart; and a third, one of the impudentest, most conceitedest fellows I ever did set eyes upon, nudged me, so that I spilled my coffee all over my second-best damask-silk apron—the one with bugle fringe, you know, Miss Capel—and says he, ‘Is it a case of Barkis is willin’?’”

“So far as the B.B.C. is concerned it may be stated at once that the matter has not at the moment of writing even been discussed by the directors, so that it is impossible to state what is the policy of the company on the subject. But one would not be far out by saying "Barkis is willin'," if there is a widespread demand for it.”

CEFR level