barrel

[bar-uh l]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR barrel ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

verb (used with object), bar·reled, bar·rel·ing or (especially British) bar·relled, bar·rel·ling.

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.

verb (used without object), bar·reled, bar·rel·ing or (especially British) bar·relled, bar·rel·ling.

Informal. to travel or drive very fast: to barrel along the highway.

Idioms

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

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 formshalf-bar·rel, nounun·bar·reled, adjectiveun·bar·relled, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for barreling

speedy, fly, shoot, rush, travel, dash, race, jog, sprint, run, zip, charge, dispatch, barrel, press, bolt, break, scurry, push, hustle

Examples from the Web for barreling

Contemporary Examples of barreling

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
Twenty 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

Historical Examples of barreling

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 Gardner
For packing, salting, and barreling beef, this city gives place to no other in Europe.
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period
Various
Among these the subject of pickling and barreling is thoroughly treated, renewing pork brine; care of barrels, etc.
Home Pork Making
A. W. Fulton
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
By this method the apples are sorted both at the picking and barreling time.
Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916
Various

British Dictionary definitions for barreling

barrel

noun

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 animalthe 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

verb -rels, -relling or -relled or US -rels, -reling or -reled

(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

Word Origin for barrel

C14: from Old French baril perhaps from barre bar 1

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

Word Origin and History for barreling

barrel

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.

barrel

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.

Idioms and Phrases with barreling

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).