barrel

[bar-uh l] /ˈbær əl/
noun
1.
a cylindrical wooden container with slightly bulging sides made of staves hooped together, and with flat, parallel ends.
2.
the quantity that such a vessel of some standard size can hold: for most liquids, 31½ U.S. gallons (119 L); for petroleum, 42 U.S. gallons (159 L); for dry materials, 105 U.S. dry quarts (115 L).
Abbreviation: bbl.
3.
any large quantity:
a barrel of fun.
4.
any container, case, or part similar to a wooden barrel in form.
5.
Ordnance. the tube of a gun.
6.
Machinery. the chamber of a pump in which the piston works.
7.
a drum turning on a shaft, as in a weight-driven clock.
8.
Horology. the cylindrical case in a watch or clock within which the mainspring is coiled.
9.
Ornithology Obsolete. a calamus or quill.
10.
the trunk of a quadruped, especially of a horse, cow, etc.
11.
Nautical. the main portion of a capstan, about which the rope winds, between the drumhead at the top and the pawl rim at the bottom.
12.
a rotating horizontal cylinder in which manufactured objects are coated or polished by tumbling in a suitable substance.
13.
any structure having the form of a barrel vault.
14.
Also called throat. Automotive. a passageway in a carburetor that has the shape of a Venturi tube.
verb (used with object), barreled, barreling or (especially British) barrelled, barrelling.
15.
to put or pack in a barrel or barrels.
16.
to finish (metal parts) by tumbling in a barrel.
17.
Informal. to force to go or proceed at high speed:
He barreled his car through the dense traffic.
verb (used without object), barreled, barreling or (especially British) barrelled, barrelling.
18.
Informal. to travel or drive very fast:
to barrel along the highway.
Idioms
19.
over a barrel, Informal. in a helpless, weak, or awkward position; unable to act:
They really had us over a barrel when they foreclosed the mortgage.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English barell < Anglo-French baril, Old French barril < Vulgar Latin *barrīculum, equivalent to *barrīc(a), perhaps derivative of Late Latin barra bar1 + Latin -ulum -ule; compare Medieval Latin (circa 800) barriclus small cask
Related forms
half-barrel, noun
unbarreled, adjective
unbarrelled, adjective
Examples from the web for barrel
  • He had pulled an old plastic sled out of the garage and filled it up with water from our rain barrel.
  • Each of the caps of a vault's barrel is made from a ring of proteins.
  • Lift the barrel unit from around the compost and set it beside the current compost heap.
  • So, preventing the pipeline from being built will not stop a single barrel of oil from being burned.
  • The dollar price per barrel is the dollar price for a barrel regardless if the dollar is rising or falling.
  • In areas of intermittent precipitation, a rain barrel can be utilized between rainstorms.
  • To fire it, a cap placed at the middle of the barrel is lit.
  • When a storm blows in, let it rain for an hour before you divert what's coming down the downspout into your barrel.
  • The traditional potato gun uses a barrel that is attached to a combustion chamber.
  • It's either cash on the barrel or electronic transfers between bank accounts.
British Dictionary definitions for barrel

barrel

/ˈbærəl/
noun
1.
a cylindrical container usually bulging outwards in the middle and held together by metal hoops; cask
2.
Also called barrelful. the amount that a barrel can hold
3.
a unit of capacity used in brewing, equal to 36 Imperial gallons
4.
a unit of capacity used in the oil and other industries, normally equal to 42 US gallons or 35 Imperial gallons
5.
a thing or part shaped like a barrel, esp a tubular part of a machine
6.
the tube through which the projectile of a firearm is discharged
7.
(horology) the cylindrical drum in a watch or clock that is rotated by the mainspring
8.
the trunk of a four-legged animal: the barrel of a horse
9.
the quill of a feather
10.
(informal) a large measure; a great deal (esp in the phrases barrel of fun, barrel of laughs)
11.
(Austral, informal) the hollow inner side of a wave
12.
(informal) over a barrel, powerless
13.
(informal) scrape the barrel, to be forced to use one's last and weakest resource
verb -rels, -relling, -relled (US) -rels, -reling, -reled
14.
(transitive) to put into a barrel or barrels
15.
(intransitive; foll by along, in, etc) (informal) (intransitive) to travel or move very fast
16.
(Austral, informal) to ride on the inside of a wave
Word Origin
C14: from Old French baril perhaps from barrebar1
Word Origin and History for barrel
n.

c.1300, from Old French baril (12c.) "barrel, cask, vat," with cognates in all Romance languages (e.g. Italian barile, Spanish barril), but origin uncertain; perhaps from Gaulish, perhaps somehow related to bar (n.1). Meaning "metal tube of a gun" is from 1640s. Barrel roll in aeronautics is from 1927.

v.

mid-15c., "to put in barrels," from barrel (n.). Meaning "to move quickly" is 1930, American English slang, perhaps suggestive of a rolling barrel. Related: Barreled; barreling.

Slang definitions & phrases for barrel

barrel

v,v phr

To speed, esp to drive a car very fast (late 1920s+)

Related Terms

cracker-barrel, in the barrel, like shooting fish in a barrel, over a barrel, scrape the bottom of the barrel


barrel in the Bible

a vessel used for keeping flour (1 Kings 17:12, 14, 16). The same word (cad) so rendered is also translated "pitcher," a vessel for carrying water (Gen. 24:14; Judg. 7:16).

Idioms and Phrases with barrel

barrel

see:
Encyclopedia Article for barrel

large, bulging cylindrical container of sturdy construction traditionally made from wooden staves and wooden or metal hoops. The term is also a unit of volume measure, specifically 31 gallons of a fermented or distilled beverage, or 42 gallons of a petroleum product. According to the 1st-century-AD Roman historian Pliny the Elder, the ancient craft of barrel making, also called cooperage, was invented by the inhabitants of the Alpine valleys.

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