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
British Dictionary definitions for over a 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 over a barrel

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 over a barrel

over a barrel

adverb phrase

In a helpless situation: I knew enough about him that I had him over a barrel

[1939+; perhaps fr the tying over a barrel of a person about to be flogged]


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


over a 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 over a barrel

over a barrel

In a weak or difficult position, as in Once the competitors found a flaw in our product, they had us over a barrel. This slangy expression, first recorded in 1938, supposedly alludes to reviving a drowning victim by placing the body head down over a barrel and rolling it back and forth, so as to empty the lungs of water. The expression survives, although happily the practice does not.

barrel

see:
Encyclopedia Article for over a barrel

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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