barrel
a cylindrical wooden container with slightly bulging sides made of staves hooped together, and with flat, parallel ends.
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
any large quantity: a barrel of fun.
any container, case, or part similar to a wooden barrel in form.
Ordnance. the tube of a gun.
Machinery. the chamber of a pump in which the piston works.
a drum turning on a shaft, as in a weight-driven clock.
Horology. the cylindrical case in a watch or clock within which the mainspring is coiled.
Ornithology Obsolete. a calamus or quill.
the trunk of a quadruped, especially of a horse, cow, etc.
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.
a rotating horizontal cylinder in which manufactured objects are coated or polished by tumbling in a suitable substance.
any structure having the form of a barrel vault.
Also called throat. Automotive. a passageway in a carburetor that has the shape of a Venturi tube.
to put or pack in a barrel or barrels.
to finish (metal parts) by tumbling in a barrel.
Informal. to force to go or proceed at high speed: He barreled his car through the dense traffic.
Informal. to travel or drive very fast: to barrel along the highway.
Idioms about barrel
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 of barrel
1Other words from barrel
- half-barrel, noun
- un·bar·reled, adjective
- un·bar·relled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use barrel in a sentence
Barnum was there, and bought it all, lock, stock, and barrel.
When Science Was the Best Show in America - Issue 93: Forerunners | Lee Alan Dugatkin | November 18, 2020 | NautilusWith his big, barrel chest and narrow, little hips, Archie looks like two dogs grafted together at the midpoint.
More dog tales: We’re learning the quirks of Archie the rescue | John Kelly | November 8, 2020 | Washington PostMost geoscientists, he says, believe that the salt is impermeable, which means there’s no chance for the waste to escape into the surrounding environment even if one of the barrels holding the material were to leak.
Finding homes for the waste that will (probably) outlive humanity | Katie McLean | October 21, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewOur adversaries have wised up, and now they’re attacking our elections, which is like shooting fish in a barrel.
That makes it responsible for three times more carbon emissions than a barrel of “light crude,” which gushes out of the ground in Saudi Arabia.
Global fuel standards are pushing the dirtiest oil out of the market | Michael J. Coren | October 12, 2020 | Quartz
He ran like he was barreling down the stairs and he struggled to climb the 15-foot-tall drum riser.
I'm Not Country or Pop. I'm Just Pure Garth Brooks. | David Masciotra | September 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTTwenty minutes later, U.S. striker Jozy Altidore was barreling down the left sideline at top speed in pursuit of the ball.
Will Jozy Altidore Be Team USA’s World Cup Savior vs. Belgium? | Emily Shire | July 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was kind of like when you walk over a grate and you can hear the subway barreling in.
New York Journalists Remember the First Moments of 9/11 | Abby Haglage | September 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThree armored police vans came barreling down the road firing shotgun pellets out of the turrets normally used to launch teargas.
Egypt’s Government Thugs Beat Me Up at the Rabaa Sit-In | Mike Giglio | August 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe night started with celebrities barreling through the ballroom door, relieved that the E!
The mail, we read, was kept bright by barreling, but does not appear to have presented much scope for decoration.
Armour in England | J. Starkie GardnerFor packing, salting, and barreling beef, this city gives place to no other in Europe.
A huge rock came barreling down the river and crashed right into the dam.
FreeChildrenStories.com Collection | Daniel ErricoBy this method the apples are sorted both at the picking and barreling time.
These bold adventurers made use of the land in the New World only for drying, salting and barreling their fish.
The Bounty of the Chesapeake | James Wharton
British Dictionary definitions for barrel
/ (ˈbærəl) /
a cylindrical container usually bulging outwards in the middle and held together by metal hoops; cask
Also called: barrelful the amount that a barrel can hold
a unit of capacity used in brewing, equal to 36 Imperial gallons
a unit of capacity used in the oil and other industries, normally equal to 42 US gallons or 35 Imperial gallons
a thing or part shaped like a barrel, esp a tubular part of a machine
the tube through which the projectile of a firearm is discharged
horology the cylindrical drum in a watch or clock that is rotated by the mainspring
the trunk of a four-legged animal: the barrel of a horse
the quill of a feather
informal a large measure; a great deal (esp in the phrases barrel of fun, barrel of laughs)
Australian informal the hollow inner side of a wave
over a barrel informal powerless
scrape the barrel informal to be forced to use one's last and weakest resource
(tr) to put into a barrel or barrels
(intr ; foll by along, in, etc) informal (intr) to travel or move very fast
Australian informal to ride on the inside of a wave
Origin of barrel
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with barrel
see both barrels; bottom of the barrel; cash on the barrelhead; like shooting fish in a barrel; lock, stock, and barrel; more fun than a barrel of monkeys; over a barrel; pork barrel; rotten apple (spoils the barrel).
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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