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barrelhouse

[ bar-uhl-hous ]
/ ˈbær əlˌhaʊs /
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noun, plural bar·rel·hous·es [bar-uhl-hou-ziz] /ˈbær əlˌhaʊ zɪz/ for 1.
a cheap saloon, especially one in New Orleans in the early part of the 20th century: so called from the racks of liquorbarrels originally placed along the walls.
a vigorous style of jazz originating in the barrelhouses of New Orleans in the early part of the 20th century.
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Origin of barrelhouse

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; barrel + house

Words nearby barrelhouse

barrel engine, barreleye, barrelfish, barrelful, barrelhead, barrelhouse, barrel knot, barrel organ, barrel race, barrel roll, barrel roof
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use barrelhouse in a sentence

  • She snagged a piano and pounded out barrelhouse runs in quirky time as I carried the main thread of the movement on a cello.

    Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom|Cory Doctorow

British Dictionary definitions for barrelhouse

barrelhouse
/ (ˈbærəlˌhaʊs) /
noun
US a cheap and disreputable drinking establishment
  1. a vigorous and unpolished style of jazz for piano, originating in the barrelhouses of New Orleans
  2. (as modifier)barrelhouse blues
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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